Behind Enemy Lines is an occasional feature in which a boxer describes the experience of traveling to fight in his or her opponent's country.

South Africa's Zolani Tete had lost to his compatriot Moruti Mthalane in an IBF flyweight title fight and then twice suffered short shrift on away days in junior bantamweight world title eliminators in Mexico and Argentina.

Tete remained highly ranked by the IBF due to the controversial nature of those losses. He had been scheduled to face Unathi Gqokoma in a South African title fight.

On October 29, he was offered another eliminator, this time against former IBF 115-pound ruler Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr., who had previously lost his title on the scales.

With no time to waste, Tete moved operations the next day to Johannesburg and trained at altitude with his trainer Mhikiza Myekeni.

Tete, Myekeni and his manager Mlandeli Tengimfene, left Johannesburg on the Monday of fight week at 23:55 and flew to Amsterdam and onto Mexico City, where they stayed a day before moving toward Mexicali.

However, an incident in the midst of their travel potentially put their lives at risk.

"As we exited the restricted arrivals section [in Mexico City,] we saw two guys with a welcoming sign, “Tete” and we shook hands and they took us with our luggage to the BMW," he recalled. "The car moved away from the airport where [promoter] Branco [Milenkovic] told us that we were going to sleepover. Mla. started to ask the driver where exactly he is taking us to and the driver kept quiet and instead accelerated away from the airport.

"There was an exchange of words, and the language issue was apparent. Tempers went up and Mla. spoke Xhosa (our own language) saying, 'Masitsibeni kweziya zibomvu.' (let's jump out at red traffic lights.) We all jumped out just before the car stopped. Fortunately, there was a gas station next to the road and it was pandemonium.

"Another cab driver came in, and we quickly took out luggage from the first car and put it in the cab and asked him to take it to the airport. The cab driver who didn’t say many words just Aeropuerto and he took us back.

"That was a scary moment. Until today we couldn't say what was going on. We are not sure if that was a failed kidnapping, or those guys were genuine, or maybe it was the language barrier."

After arriving in Mexicali on the Thursday afternoon, he was 1.5-pounds over the division limit and worked out until he made weight.

Tete had to battle fatigue due to an arduous journey coupled with a nine-hour time difference between his homeland and Mexico.

He was largely treated well during his stay though it wasn’t without some gamesmanship.

Milenkovic offered some sagely advice before they left, emphasizing that they should insist on getting their purse ahead of the fight, but it fell on deaf ears at the weigh in.

Tete made 115 without any issues, while Sanchez Jr. was over the limit and went for a run before making weight.

The morning of the fight they asked the promoter again for their purse, but were ignored.

Milkenovic had told them a story of when Simpiwe Nongqayi had fought in Mexico and never got paid and the IBF had to intervene and it took nearly a year for them to receive their money.

On the day of the fight, Tete ate breakfast and lunch. He headed to the venue which was full.

However, the purse still hadn't been paid. Tengimfene told the team to stand firm, and they wouldn't enter the ring despite the ring announcer calling Tete's name and the television cameras on them.

"Someone went to the boot of a car and brought $25,000, and we counted it and then proceeded with it to the ring," he recalled.

The pro-Sanchez crowd cheered their man throughout.

"Both of us were southpaws and lanky, boxing was displayed at a highest level," he said. "The crowd was entertained by knockdowns in round 5 and 6, I caught Sanchez Jr. with a left, right hook and uppercut in Round 5 and he went down. He caught me in Round 6 with a straight left and I was down. [There was] points deductions against me in round 8 and 9.

"I caught him with a good one-two in round 10 and the referee waved him off. The fight was voted as the best fight of the year by the IBF in 2013."

At the time of the stoppage the fight was in the balance, Tete was ahead 84-83 on one scorecard, down 87-79 on another, while the third judge had it even 83-83.

After the fight, the fans wished Tete well for the future.

"It was amazing to have won against Sanchez," he said proudly. "I took a lot of pics and signed lots of autographs.

"That fight will always be my best ever; I beat a boxer who has beaten all those boxers who beat me in my previous eliminators."