A four-year ban of one of SA’s best boxing exports, Zolani Tete, finally comes to an end on Thursday, freeing him to start afresh despite his advanced age.
Tete made headlines for ignominious reasons when he was slapped with the lengthy ban for failing a dope test after his fourth-round knockout win over Englishman Jason Cunningham in a junior-featherweight clash at the Wembley Arena in London in July 2022.
However, traces of the banned substance, stanozolol, was found in his urine sample, though he denied knowledge of how it got into his system.
Tete embarked on a worldwide campaign seeking top laboratories to clear himself, including enlisting one in France, which sided with him, arguing that the volume of the substance proved he did not ingest it.
However, United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD), which took over the case from the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids), said it would give him a lenient sentence in exchange for him revealing his source.
When he pleaded ignorance, he was handed the maximum ban, marking the darkest moment for one of SA’s boxing exports to the UK, where Tete had made a name for himself by winning two world titles under top British promoter Frank Warren.
Tete insisted he was innocent and had been a victim of a conspiracy, even citing loopholes in the process of his failed dope test.
He vowed not to quit boxing, saying he would continue after the end of the ban despite being 38 years old.
Reacting to the end of the ban, Tete, who remained within boxing circles by training boxers at his boxing club, All Winners, said he was ready to get back into the ring.
“The last four years have been nothing but hell for me and my family,” he said.
“To be denied to do what I love on frivolous circumstances when I know I am innocent is heartbreaking.
“But as I said, UKAD never brought me to boxing, and they will not take me out of it.”
Tete’s manager, Mla Tengimfene, also breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the ban, saying it freed Tete to resume his boxing career and prove that what happened was an aberration.
“It was painful to me to watch Zolani, who I believe is innocent, going through such a dark period of his boxing career,” he said.
“But thank God he is now ready to do what God gave him to do, which is boxing.”
“BSA said it was handling the request and we are still waiting for the feedback.”
Tete’s relicensing sparked a debate in boxing circles, with some arguing his four-year absence and age blocked him from being granted a licence as per BSA regulations.
Regulations call for a boxer who has been inactive for more than a year and is over 35 years to submit a battery of brain scan test results to prove his health condition.
This has led to some boxers being denied a licence.
