This South African 112 pounder still remains to be a threat in this division and hate to see him not get a title fight before he is too old... His prime was about ten years ago and knocked out Tete and Casmiero... Hope he gets one more chance for a big fight...
Now there's a name I've not heard in a hot minute. I wouldn't say his prime was a full decade ago; rather his peak form ran from 9½ to 6 years ago, between mid-2008 and late 2011 (Hussein through Sarritzu, and that includes his game loss to just-hitting-full-prime-stride Nonito Donaire). Odd that he remained active yet so under the radar since then. No blemishes on his record, was the IBF flyweight champ for a time, but just ...vanished into obscurity. I can't remember why he got stripped (or vacated), considering he stayed in the same division with no troubles making weight, after the Matematico Núñez war - and can't fathom why he would spend the ensuing five years going the much lesser-regarded IBO route.
I hope/wonder if he's gotten paid well. Hope he can retire and not have to bust his ass after boxing like Zab Judah. It's crazy he probably got paid peanuts for fighting Tete, boxing don't pay well at all! I've been feeling sad about this kind of stuff lately. I've seen someone damn near kill themselves after years of wars in pro muai Thai and now has nothing financial to show for it. Traveled the world but sometimes they pay 1k a fight if that
Paid peanuts for fighting Tete...? Well, why wouldn't he have been? Look at when they fought, bruh. You realize nobody in the world outside Africa knew who the hell Zolani Tete was back then, right? Tete did have the IBF title, but obtained it at home in South Africa, flying in the not exactly heralded Garcia, but nobody saw that. It wasn't until Rosas in 2011 in Mexico that he left the country, and wasn't until Sánchez that he garnered international attention.
Tete did call out Mthalane for a rematch in 2014 (after his star began to ascend, starting with the Sánchez win) and they both would've probably made like triple what they did the first time.
He, along with Nkosinathi, were submerged in the South African boxing promotional crisis from 2010-...present? Remember he made something like ten grand for a title defense once. Dropped his belt because the odd defense would have paid 13 grand, obviously much less than team expenses. Always been a huge Mthalane fan. Absurdly under appreciated and quite the victim to inactivity and lack of discussion in "the west."
