Zolani Tete Retains WBO Bantamweight Title Against Omar Narvaez
Despite him reaching the age of 40 later this year, Zolani Tete proved he is still arguably the world’s best bantamweight boxer
Tete retained his WBO bantamweight title with a dominating performance over Omar Narvaez, winning the fight by unanimous decision (120-108, 120-108, 120-108). The fight was not a slugfest with the champion Tete opting to outbox a mild-mannered Narvaez who never seemed like he was going to land any significant punches to Tete.
Narvaez, who previously challenged Naoya Inoue for his WBO super flyweight title in 2014, got the title shot after winning his last five fights including a seventh-round TKO win over previously undefeated Nikolai Potapov in a title eliminator.
The 12-round beatdown over Narvaez was a far different performance than Tete’s last fight. Tete scored the fastest knockout in a world title fight last November when he defeated Siboniso Gonya in 11 seconds.
As far as what is next for Tete, there are rumors that the World Boxing Super Series could have a bantamweight tournament later this year. With the WBSS bringing in world champions for the tournament, Tete, who had been calling out WBA champion Ryan Burnett to engage in a title unification, could potentially fight in the unannounced tournament.
The fight co-headlined the Carl Frampton vs. Nonito Donaire interim WBO featherweight title fight that was streamed for American fans online. Also on the undercard, Luke Keeler defeated Conrad Cummings to win the vacant WBO European middleweight title, his first regional title won from a major governing body.
