Tete defends title against slimmer Butler

Zolani Tete, the IBF junior bantamweight champion, is hoping to give himself an early birthday present when he steps into a UK boxing ring to make a maiden title defence against Paul Butler at Liverpool's Echo Arena tonight.

The Eastern Cape-born fighter turns 27 on Sunday and he said yesterday he could not think of a better way to mark the special day than to stop Butler in his tracks.

''This will be my birthday present to myself," he said. ''Paul had better forget about his dream of winning his second world title, not at my expense. I have set my own goals."

Tete will have a lot at stake against Butler as his prized IBF title remains one of the few credible belts in a sport saturated with an alphabet soup of worthless championships.

He is one of only two legitimate world champions in South Africa - the other being WBA strawweight king Hekkie Budler.

Tete, his trainers Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, Zolile Tete (Zolani's father) and manager Mlandeli Thengimfene have been acclimatising in the UK for the past 12 days. Promoter Branco Milenkovic joined them on Monday.

"We had enough time to adapt to the chilly conditions over here. There is nothing to worry about," said Thengimfene from Liverpool yesterday. "That Tete is a left-hander seems to be a headache for Butler."

Butler himself is a former undefeated IBF bantamweight title holder, who is yet to taste defeat after 17 bouts with only eight knockouts. He relinquished his title and dropped down a division shortly after winning the strap last year.

He is now bidding to become the first UK fighter in over 100 years to drop down a weight division and win a second world title.

Judging by his comments in the English media this week, Butler remains cautious of the SA champion and is treading carefully ahead of the showdown tonight.

"Tete's records say he carries a lot of power for a super flyweight [16 KOs from 19 wins against three losses]," Butler was quoted as saying. ''So we've got to respect that and feel him out for a couple of rounds and see if he really does carry that power. I'm not expecting a toe-to-toe battle. I am going to be all over him like a rash."

Tete won the title when he beat Teiru Kinoshita in Japan on former president Nelson Mandela's birthday (July 18) last year.

The fight will be broadcast on Supersport live on SS7 from 11.30pm tonight.