Boxing SA has vowed to license Zolani Tete as soon as his four-year ban ends. <\/p>\n
The regulatory boxing body\u2019s CEO, Tsholofelo Lejaka, on Monday confirmed this position. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur attitude is positive,\u201d said Lejaka. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as his suspension [four years for failing a dope test in the UK in 2022] is over, we will license him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might not necessarily give him a hero\u2019s welcome, but we assume he\u2019s learnt his lessons and he will come back a better man,\u201d Lejaka said.<\/p>\n
BSA\u2019s window for licensing is open until February. <\/p>\n
Tete turns 38 on March 8. The Boxing SA Act demands that boxers 35 years or older applying for a licence renewal must, at their own expense, submit themselves to specific medical examinations and tests.<\/p>\n
The examinations are to determine if it is in the best interest of the boxer\u2019s physical and mental well-being to continue boxing.<\/p>\n
It is understood that amended regulations will be gazetted before the end of February.<\/p>\n
Tete failed a dope test after knocking out Jason Cunningham in the fourth round in the UK to win both the IBF and WBO International junior-featherweight titles on July 2, 2022.<\/p>\n
He was banned for four years, starting from July 30 2022. The ban expires on July 29.<\/p>\n
Tete\u2019s manager, Mlandeli Tengimfene, said his charge was sweating it out at All Winners Gymnasium for his comeback in August.<\/p>\n
Tengimfene is adamant the former world champion will be in the ring in August.<\/p>\n
Tengimfene said Azinga Fuzile, Mthokozisi Ngxaka, Lwando Mgabi and Phaphama Rhonorhono will feature in the event.<\/p>\n
Tete, who made history in Belfast in 2018 when he defended his WBO bantamweight belt in 11 seconds \u2013 the quickest world title defence ever \u2013 said: \u201cIt\u2019s been very hard being away from boxing, which is my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tete fought under Queensberry, the British promoter Frank Warren, from 2015.<\/p>\n
That was after Tete\u2019s impressive eighth-round knockout victory over Paul Butler for the IBF junior-bantamweight belt in Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Under Warren, Tete, who was recognised as a hard-hitting southpaw who brought excitement to the ring, won the WBO bantamweight belt.<\/p>\n
He lost his title in 2019 and bounced back with a 10-second victory against Iddy Kayumba in 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boxing SA has vowed to license Zolani Tete as soon as his four-year ban ends. The regulatory boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[176370,703,176369,49,48,56382,176371,82,176372],"class_list":{"0":"post-420839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-all-winners-gymnasium","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-boxing-comeback-august-2023","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-frank-warren","14":"tag-ibf-junior-bantamweight","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-wbo-bantamweight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}