MANILA – Filipino boxer Nonito Donaire Jr. will be tangling with South African Zolani Tete in a unification bout as part of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) on April 27 at the Cajun Dome in Lafayette, Louisiana.
At stake in the unification bout, which served as the semifinals round of the WBSS, was Donaire’s WBA world bantamweight championship and Tete’s WBO bantamweight world title.
Donaire said that he respects his opponent but believes that he has the tools to defeat Tete and moved on to the WBSS finals series, where he could face either WBA regular champion Naoya Inoue or IBF beltholder Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico.
“Tete is a formidable opponent. He is tall, he is fast, he is slick, but I am a fighter that can fight any kind of style. I can’t wait to show the crowd what we’ve been working on,” Donaire said.
“The plan is to break him down and figure him out as the fight goes on. I can be aggressive and crowd him or I can box from a distance. He has length and that’s something we want to neutralize,” he added.
The Talibon, Bohol native reached the semifinals series of the WBSS with his fourth round technical decision win over Ryan Burnett on November, 2018 to clinch the WBA belt.
The 36-year-old Donaire will be entering the match with an impressive 39-5-0 win-loss-draw ring record with 25 stoppage wins, while the 31-year-old Tete has 28-3-0 card, including 21 knockout wins./PN
