Ali's punch, which hardly anyone saw, came just a minute-and-a-half into his defence of his world heavyweight title.
Tete, the 29-year-old left-hander from Mdantsane, near East London, retained his WBO bantamweight belt on Saturday.
His knockout is certain to be a candidate for the 2017 world knockout of the year award.
It broke the record belonging to former WBO junior featherweight champion Daniel Jimenez of Puerto Rico, who disdealt with Australian Harald Geier in 17 seconds back in 1994.
We look at other knockouts that have made history :
Even Ali can't beat Tete KO
Image: CHARLES McQUILLAN
First-round knockouts in world title fights are very rare.
What Zolani "Last Born" Tete accomplished in Belfast, Northern Ireland last Saturday was unprecedented.
His 11-second knockout of Siboniso "Tiger" Gonya in their bout at SSE Arena broke all previous records in world championship defences.
This includes Muhammad Ali's "phantom punch" against Sonny Liston on May 25 1965.
It's all in a day's work, says Tete
Ali's punch, which hardly anyone saw, came just a minute-and-a-half into his defence of his world heavyweight title.
Tete, the 29-year-old left-hander from Mdantsane, near East London, retained his WBO bantamweight belt on Saturday.
His knockout is certain to be a candidate for the 2017 world knockout of the year award.
It broke the record belonging to former WBO junior featherweight champion Daniel Jimenez of Puerto Rico, who disdealt with Australian Harald Geier in 17 seconds back in 1994.
We look at other knockouts that have made history :
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