THE step up from junior to youth level is a big one – and it is suiting Thabiso ‘Tete’ Moyo.
Moyo proved herself over 3x2s by winning European Junior silver in Bosnia and Herzegovina last year, and over nine minutes, she has been unstoppable in 2025.
The 17-year-old southpaw from Leicester Railwaymen’s ABC last month added Riga Ladies Boxing Cup gold to the Golden Girl and Youth titles she had won earlier this year.
Moyo was handed a bye through to the 75kgs final in Latvia, where she faced Poland’s Julia Swita, before impressively breaking down her opponent to force a third-round stoppage.
“The three-minute rounds are suiting her,” said Jon Whike, her coach at the East Midlands club.
“You can see [her opponents] fading towards the end of the second round, yet ‘Tete’ only gets stronger. In some bouts, you see [the fighters] looking at each other for a round, but ‘Tete’ is right in her opponent’s face from the start. She doesn’t let you rest. She makes you work for every second of every round, and usually by the third round, [her opponent] has had enough.”
Moyo has won her last two bouts via third-round stoppages, and said: “I feel really comfortable when I box three minutes. I can find my rhythm and my pace and pick my shots. They can’t handle my power.”
Quite remarkably, Whike believes that Moyo is going to start punching even harder.
He said: “I’ve got coaches who have taken a lot of girls on the pads, and they say: ‘None of them hit like ‘Tete.’’ She’s very strong, has long levers and will start putting them [her opponents] on the floor soon.”
Moyo, meanwhile, puts her success down to her perseverance.
Because of her weight, she has struggled to secure consistent matches. Through six years in the gym, she has boxed only 11 times, winning eight.
“I didn’t box for three years,” she said, “but I was still training. I stayed patient; I stayed in the gym. That’s what got me where I am today.”
Cheering her on every step of the way is her mother, Esther.
England Boxing featured her on their social media channels after she was spotted screaming throughout Moyo’s victory in the Youth final against Ava Doherty (Stoke Staffs).
Moyo revealed that Esther didn’t want her to box.
“I wanted to start boxing when I was seven,” said Moyo. “I was a born fighter.
“I have three older brothers, and was fighting them all the time. One day Muhammad Ali came up on my [phone] and I started researching, watching more. I came across the Olympics and that became my dream. Ever since then, I’ve just wanted to be on the podium with that gold medal around my neck.
“I kept telling my mum: ‘I want to get into boxing’ and she would say: ‘You’re too young.’ But I kept telling her that I wanted to box, and when I was 10 [years old], she finally let me go to the gym.”
The gym, Leicester Railwaymen’s ABC, was set up by the late Dave ‘Sticky’ Pratt, whose success stories include his nephew, Rendall Munroe.
‘The Boxing Binman’ served a 40-bout amateur apprenticeship in the club’s red-and-green colours and went on to win Commonwealth and European honours in the pros, before fighting for the world title in Japan.
Whike trained Munroe alongside Pratt, and was in Moyo’s corner when she became the East Midlands club’s first national champion when winning the NABGC title in November, 2023, which put a smile on Esther’s face.
“Mum is my number-one supporter now,” said Moyo. “She’s always there when I fight. She gets very excited and I can hear her when I’m in [the ring]. She is throwing every punch with me. It’s like she’s in there with me.”
Next for Esther Moyo is a trip to Cardiff in May for the Tri Nations Championship – and then, ‘Tete’ is off to America in August for the ‘Beautiful Brawlers’ event in San Francisco.
Boxing has already taken Moyo, who studies Health and Social Care at college, to Latvia, Sweden, Bosnia, Ireland and Spain.
“There was no one for me to box in Spain [at last year’s Boxam tournament],” she said, “so I ended up sparring Mexicans and Colombians. They were top-class girls, and I was smashing them.”
