Franco Wanyama

Franco "Thunderbird" Wanyama (7 February 1968 – 21 March 2019 ) was a Ugandan professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2000. He competed in the middleweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight division. He was an amateur representative of Uganda at middleweight in the Boxing at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, losing to eventual bronze medal winner Chris Sande of Kenya, and as a professional won the BeNeLux heavyweight title, BeNeLux cruiserweight title, Commonwealth cruiserweight title, and World Boxing Federation (WBF) cruiserweight title, and was a challenger for the Commonwealth cruiserweight title against Chris Okoh. His professional fighting weight varied from , i.e. cruiserweight to , i.e. heavyweight. Wanyama defeated notable fighters such as Jimmy Thunder, Carl Thompson and Johnny Nelson and was sparring partner to Vitali Klitschko & Wladimir Klitschko. He lived his last years in Rugby, Warwickshire, England and had 3 children, Shannon Wanyama, Nellie Wanyama and Wanga Wanyama.

Early life Franco started boxing around the age of 6 after becoming curious of what was inside a local boxing gym.

Professional career Franco made his professional debut on 25 December 1989 against Dutch fighter John Held (7–13–2) it ended a 6-round points draw. In 1990 he defeated future world title holder Carl Thompson on points. In 1993 he won a bout against another future world champion, Johnny Nelson, who was disqualified for repeated holding. In 1995 he was matched with former world champion Thomas Hearns but the fight was called off at the last minute and Hearns was replaced by ranked Heavyweight Jimmy Thunder, Wanyama and gave away 30 pounds in weight but still came away with a points victory.

Later years After his retirement Franco worked as a sparring partner, notably with the Klitschko brothers. From 2007 he became a youth worker and boxing coach in Rugby, taking classes for the youth service whilst also being a coach at a local amateur boxing gym. On 21 March 2019, Franco had a heart attack and died at his home in Rugby at the age of 51.

Professional boxing record