South African Zolani Tete has now been elevated to full champion status by the World Boxing Organisation. This follows from Zolani comfortably beating his opponent Arthur Villanueva on the 22nd of April via unanimous decision to claim the WBO interim bantamweight title. Previous full title holder Marlon Tapales lost his title on the scales when weighing in against Shohei Omori in Japan in a voluntary defence.
The WBO president made clear yesterday that if Tapales won his fight today (23/4) that Tete would be elevated to world title status, which happened following an eleventh round stoppage in favour of Tapales. Tete is now a two weight world champion following a successful reign as IBF super-flyweight champion. No mandatory challenger has been named for Tete?s first world title defence or if a voluntary defence will be granted.
The Frank Warren promoted fighter will now be speaking to stamp down his mark in the bantamweight division and seek a successful reign.
