Drake Thadzi
Drake Thadzi (born November 23, 1959 in Lilongwe) is a 6'1 light heavyweight retired boxer from Malawi, who represented his native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There he was decisioned in the second round of competition in the light heavyweight division (– 81 kg) by Algeria's eventual bronze medalist Mustapha Moussa.
Soon afterwards Thadzi turned professional, before retiring in 1998 after a loss against Dariusz Michalczewski with a record of 40 fights: 30 wins (25 KO's), 1 draw and 9 losses. Some other career highlights: Thadzi challenged Virgil Hill for the WBA light heavyweight title in 1995 but lost a decision.
Thadzi scored his career best win in 1997, when he upset respected three-time world champion James Toney at the Foxwoods Casino. 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 with a victory over a seriously weight depleted "Iceman" John Scully and a title loss to Michalczewski eighteen months after his big win over Toney.
Professional boxing record
| 30 Wins (25 KOs), 9 Losses (4 KOs), 1 Draw | |||||||
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round | Date | Location | Notes |
| Loss | 38-0 |  Dariusz Michalczewski |
TKO | 9 | 12/12/1998 |  Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany |
For Lineal/WBO light-heavyweight titles. |
| Win | 37-8 |  Iceman John Scully |
TKO | 7 | 02/08/1998 |  Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 54-3-2 | James Toney |
MD | 12 | 14/05/1997 |  Mashantucket, Connecticut, United States |
|
| 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, United Kingdom |
For WBA light-heavyweight title. |
| Win | 9-24-1 | Jose Hiram Torres |
KO | 2 | 19/05/1995 | New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 5-14 | Joe "JoJo" Harris |
KO | 2 | 04/03/1995 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 13-13 | "Wet" Willie Kemp |
PTS | 8 | 01/10/1994 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 3-3 |  Zoltan Fuzesy |
TKO | 3 | 04/06/1994 | Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany |
|
| Loss | 16-0-1 | Ernest "M-16" Mateen |
MD | 10 | 13/05/1993 |  Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States |
|
| Loss | 18-1-1 | Adolpho Washington |
UD | 10 | 16/01/1993 |  San Antonio, Texas, United States |
|
| Win | 7-19 | Jose "Kid Cuba" Vera |
PTS | 8 | 08/05/1992 | Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Loss | 7-4 | Art Bayliss |
KO | 8 | 28/02/1992 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 15-22 | Danny "Thunderhand" Chapman |
TKO | 3 | 12/12/1991 | Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 6-24-4 | Jimmy Harrison |
TKO | 5 | 23/08/1991 | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
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, United States |
New England light-heavyweight title. |
| Win | 0-7-2 | Ruben Cardona |
KO | 5 | 23/02/1990 | Lowell, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Loss | 5-8-1 | Wesley Reid |
KO | 4 | 19/01/1990 | Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
New England light-heavyweight title. |
| Win | 22-11 | Keith Bristol |
UD | 6 | 20/10/1989 | Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Loss | 5-0 | Al Cole |
PTS | 6 | 12/09/1989 | Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States |
|
| Win | 22-10 | Keith Bristol |
KO | 5 | 09/06/1989 | Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | -- | Rodney Jones |
TKO | 1 | 28/04/1989 | Taunton, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Win | 10-2 | Terry Francis |
KO | 5 | 30/03/1989 | Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada |
|
| Win | -- | Dennis "Boss Man" Burley |
TKO | 2 | 10/12/1988 |  Salem, New Hampshire, United States |
|
| Win | 0-1 | Angel Colon |
TKO | 1 | 22/10/1988 | Salem, New Hampshire, United States |
|
| Win | 2-5 | Andy Gordon |
TKO | 2 | 30/07/1988 | Brockton, Massachusetts, United States |
|
| Loss | 11-1 |  Sadik Sulemana |
TKO | 4 | 24/11/1987 | Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
|
| Draw | 3-2 | Darrell "Pee Wee" 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 |
Professional debut. |