Drake Thadzi

Who is Drake Thadzi?

Drake Thadzi 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 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, 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.