Two-time world boxing champion Zolani Tete shot dead outside his South African home

South African boxer Zolani Tete, 38, a two-time world champion, was shot dead outside his home in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape, on Friday in what officials described as an ambush.

According to authorities, Tete was sitting in his car waiting for his gate to open when two armed men wearing balaclavas got out of a vehicle and opened fire on him and a 27-year-old woman who was with him. The woman was wounded and remains in hospital.

The two attackers fled the scene, and a major investigation is now under way. South Africa's minister of sport, arts and culture, Gayton McKenzie, said the country had lost one of the finest fighters it had ever produced.

A decorated career

Tete held the WBO bantamweight title from 2017 to 2019 and won the IBF super-flyweight title in 2014. He fought in the United Kingdom eight times, including a 2015 win over Liverpool's Paul Butler.

He also holds a Guinness World Record for the fastest knockout in a title fight, stopping Siboniso Gonya in just 11 seconds in 2017.

His last fight came in July 2022 in London, where he knocked out British boxer Jason Cunningham, though the result was later overturned to a no-contest after Tete tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. He received a four-year ban from the UK Anti-Doping Agency, which ended on 29 July this year. Following his death, his manager Mla Tengimfene confirmed Tete had been training for a comeback fight.

Over his career, Tete won 29 of his 34 fights, lost four and had one no-contest.