Two-time world champion Zolani Tete shot dead outside Mdantsane home

Two-time world champion Zolani Tete was shot dead outside his home in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, on Friday. Officials described the incident as an ambush.

Tete held the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019 and the IBF super-flyweight title in 2014. He beat Liverpool's Paul Butler in 2015 in one of the eight times he fought in the United Kingdom. He holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a title fight, ending his match with Siboniso Gonya inside 11 seconds in 2017. Across his career he recorded 29 wins in 34 fights, with four losses and one no‑contest.

The 38‑year‑old was in his car waiting for the gate to his house to open when officials said two armed suspects in balaclavas emerged from a vehicle. Those suspects fired "multiple shots" at him, officials added. A 27‑year‑old female passenger was also hit and remains in hospital.

South Africa's minister of sport, arts and culture, Gayton McKenzie, said: "South Africa has lost one of the finest fighters it has ever produced."

Tete last fought in July 2022, beating Briton Jason Cunningham by knockout in London, but the result was later ruled a no‑contest after he failed a drugs test. He tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol and was given a four-year ban by the UK Anti‑Doping Agency.

His ban ended on 29 July, 2026 and, after his death, manager Mla Tengimfene confirmed he had been training for a comeback fight. The two suspects fled the scene and a major investigation has been launched, McKenzie added.