Tete becomes world champ – in a plane!
IN a weekend drenched in tears following the death of his former trainer Nick Durandt‚ Zolani Tete became the dual world champion while on a flight from England to South Africa.
Tete became probably the first ever boxer in the world to be crowned world champion while up in the clouds and he landed in Johannesburg yesterday morning on top of the world.
This after beating Arthur Villanueva, of the Philippines, in a fight that was upgraded to a WBO interim world bantamweight title clash at Leicester Arena on Saturday night.
The fight was originally scheduled as an eliminator to the title fight until a series of dramatic developments played out at the weekend.
First‚ Tete beat Villanueva and handed him his second loss in 32 bouts as he won every round to capture the interim title.
The interim title was created after WBO champion Marlon Tapales‚ also of the Philippines‚ failed to make the weight for his voluntary title defence against Japanese Shohei Omori on the same day as the Tete-Villanueva fight.
After dedicating his win to the late Durandt‚ who died in a motorcycle accident a day earlier‚ Tete found himself returning home as a full-fledged champion.
When Tapales could not make the weight the title became vacant and the Japanese would have been eligible to win it if he had beat the Filipino‚ failing which Tete would be elevated to full champion status.
But the Mdantsane boxer did not know about the outcome of the fight in Japan as he was on board a flight from Birmingham to Dubai, where he was to catch a connecting flight back home.
With the country gripped in suspense combined with a sombre atmosphere following Durandt’s death‚ Tapales rallied to stop Omori in the 11th round on Sunday to hand Tete the belt on a silver platter.
The dramatic developments could not have been scripted better, even by the best movie director.
When informed that he was now a world champion Tete could not conceal his delight. “I think I am dreaming‚” he said. “Please do not wake me up because this is an incredible dream.
“To get onto a flight as an interim champion and get off it as a champion without even getting into the ring is nothing short of a miracle.
“This shows that Nick’s spirit is with me.”