Franco Wanyama

Franco "Thunderbird" Wanyama (7 February 1968 - 21 March 2019 ) in Kampala, was a Ugandan amateur middleweight and professional cruiser/heavyweight boxer of the 1980s, '90s and 2000s.

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 181 lb, i.e. cruiserweight to 192 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 lived his last years in Rugby, Warwickshire, England and had 3 children, Shannon Wanyama, Nellie 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 professional 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 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 a 30 pounds in weight but still came away with a points victory.

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 the 21st of March 2019 Franco died at his home in Rugby.