Drake Thadzi

Drake Thadzi (born November 23, 1964, in Lilongwe) is a Malawian former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 1998, twice challenging for a light heavyweight world title in 1995 and 1998. As am amateur, he competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Amateur career[edit]

Thadzi represented Malawi at the 1984 Olympics; he was decisioned in the second round of competition in the light heavyweight division (– 81 kg) by Algeria's eventual bronze medalist Mustapha Moussa.

Professional career[edit]

Soon afterwards Thadzi turned professional. He challenged Virgil Hill for the WBA light heavyweight title in 1995 but lost a decision.^[1]

Thadzi scored his career best win in 1997, when he upset three-time world champion James Toney via majority decision at the Foxwoods Casino.^[2] At that point Thadzi appeared primed to fight for a title but manager Goody Petronelli inexplicably failed to get him a fight during the next 15 months. Thadzi finished out with only two more fights after the Toney win – a technical knockout victory over "Iceman" John Scully and a title loss to Dariusz Michalczewski – before retiring in 1998 with a record of 30 wins (25 KO's), 1 draw and 9 losses.

Professional boxing record[edit]

30 Wins (25 KOs), 9 Losses (4 KOs), 1 Draw [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	38-0	Dariusz Michalczewski	TKO	9	12/12/1998	Frankfurt, Germany	For Lineal/WBO light-heavyweight titles.
Win	37-8	Iceman John Scully	TKO	7	02/08/1998	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	54-3-2	James Toney	MD	12	14/05/1997	Mashantucket, Connecticut, U.S.
Win	11-7-1	Darrell Flint	TKO	9	19/10/1996	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Loss	40-1	Virgil Hill	UD	12	02/09/1995	Wembley, London, England	For WBA light-heavyweight title.
Win	9-24-1	Jose Hiram Torres	KO	2	19/05/1995	New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	5-14	Joe Harris	KO	2	04/03/1995	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	13-13	Willie Kemp	PTS	8	01/10/1994	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	3-3	Zoltan Fuzesy	TKO	3	04/06/1994	Dortmund, Germany
Loss	16-0-1	Ernest Mateen	MD	10	13/05/1993	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Loss	18-1-1	Adolpho Washington	UD	10	16/01/1993	San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Win	7-19	Jose Vera	PTS	8	08/05/1992	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	7-4	Art Bayliss	KO	8	28/02/1992	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	15-22	Danny Chapman	TKO	3	12/12/1991	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	6-24-4	Jimmy Harrison	TKO	5	23/08/1991	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	New England light-heavyweight title.
Win	11-5-2	Danny Stonewalker	TKO	8	04/08/1991	Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada	Canada light-heavyweight title.
Win	19-27	Robert Curry	TKO	3	31/05/1991	Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada
Loss	27-6	Leslie Stewart	UD	10	28/02/1991	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Win	7-11-1	Melvin Ricks	KO	6	14/09/1990	Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada
Win	6-9-1	Wesley Reid	KO	3	22/06/1990	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.	New England light-heavyweight title.
Win	0-7-2	Ruben Cardona	KO	5	23/02/1990	Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	5-8-1	Wesley Reid	KO	4	19/01/1990	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.	New England light-heavyweight title.
Win	22-11	Keith Bristol	UD	6	20/10/1989	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	5-0	Al Cole	PTS	6	12/09/1989	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Win	22-10	Keith Bristol	KO	5	09/06/1989	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	--	Rodney Jones	TKO	1	28/04/1989	Taunton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Win	10-2	Terry Francis	KO	5	30/03/1989	Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Win	--	Dennis Burley	TKO	2	10/12/1988	Salem, New Hampshire, U.S.
Win	0-1	Angel Colon	TKO	1	22/10/1988	Salem, New Hampshire, U.S.
Win	2-5	Andy Gordon	TKO	2	30/07/1988	Brockton, Massachusetts, U.S.
Loss	11-1	Sadik Sulemana	TKO	4	24/11/1987	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Draw	3-2	Darrell Flint	PTS	6	29/09/1987	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Win	0-1	Ken Barlow	TKO	3	20/09/1987	Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada
Win	--	Ken Barlow	TKO	2	07/07/1987	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Win	1-2	Gilbert Mwambo	KO	8	09/03/1986	Lilongwe, Malawi
Win	--	Ben Chitenje	KO	3	09/02/1986	Malawi
Win	--	Joseph Poto	KO	5	02/11/1985	Malawi
Win	0-1	Justice Mahilasi	PTS	6	29/06/1985	Malawi
Win	--	Titus Kanyanji	KO	3	24/02/1985	Malawi
Win	--	Justice Mahilasi	KO	2	28/12/1984	Malawi