Franco Wanyama

Franco "Thunderbird" Wanyama (Born 7 February 1968) in Kampala, is a Ugandan amateur middleweight and professional cruiser/heavyweight boxer of the 1980s, '90s and 2000s who as an amateur represented 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 181 lb (82 kg; 12 st 13 lb), i.e. cruiserweight to 192 lb (87 kg; 13 st 10 lb), 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 currently resides in Rugby, Warwickshire and has 3 children,Nellie Wanyama, Shannon Wanyama and Wanga Wanyama.

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

Franco made his pro debut on 25 December 1989 against Dutch fighter John Held (7-13-2) it ended a 6-round points draw, in 1990 he beat future world title holder Carl Thompson