Lagos. Former world boxing champion Zolani “Last Born” Tete was shot dead outside his home in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province on Friday, police and the country’s Sports Minister said.
The 38-year-old was arriving at his residence in Mdantsane township when two armed men wearing balaclavas got out of a vehicle and opened fire.
“I will not speculate about who did this or why,” Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie said in a statement.
Tete’s killing is likely to renew attention on violent crime in South Africa, which continues to have one of the world’s highest murder rates despite a recent decline in homicides.
The killing has also shocked Mdantsane, the Eastern Cape township that has produced some of South Africa’s most successful boxers.
A 27-year-old woman who was travelling with Tete was shot multiple times and taken to hospital. Police have launched an investigation, while the motive remains unclear.
Tete won the IBF junior-bantamweight world title in 2014 after defeating Japan’s Teiru Kinoshita in Kobe. He later won the WBO bantamweight title.
He is best remembered internationally for knocking out fellow South African Siboniso Gonya in 11 seconds in Belfast in November 2017, the fastest stoppage in a world title fight.
