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Official Press
Release Universum Box-Promotion
HAMBURG, 11 November 1998.
'The Tiger' has
been champion for four years now. When he defends his title for the 14th
time on 12 December in Frankfurt, Dariusz Michalczewski will enter the record books.
In the past 100 years, there has only been one world light heavyweight champion who defended
his title 14 times consecutively -- Bob Foster. Foster, now 59
years old (who in his prime challenged heavyweight geats Joe Frazier
and Muhammad Ali) was world champion in the 175-pound class from May 1968 to
June 1974. After his 14th successful title defense he vacated his
belts and retired.
The 33 year old Drake Thadzi,
who was born in the Southeast-African state Malawi, is feared for his tough and
powerful fighting style. Thadzi, who brings the experience of 39 professional
fights (30 Wins, 8 Losses, one Draw, 25 KOs), could celebrate the best win of
his career in 1997, when he outpointed the former two-division champion James
Toney over 12 rounds.
In the past five years the cosmopolitan Thadzi, who was living
several years in Canada before making his home in Boston, Massachusetts, has
lost only one single fight. In 1995 he missed a 12 round decision against
reigning world champion Virgil Hill.
In his last fight in August of this year Drake Thadzi again
proved his punching power impressively. In front of his home croud in Boston
Thadzi stopped the tough 'Iceman' John Scully in the seventh round. Scully had
never been stopped before in his 10 year professional career - including several
fights against world champions and top-10 contenders.
When Drake Thadzi will fight on 12 December in Frankfurt against
'The Tiger' for the WBO world title, it will be his second stay in Germany. In
June of 1994 Thadzi was fighting in Dortmund on the undercard of the world title
contest between Henry Maske and Andrea Magi.
New challenger for The Tiger: Drake
ThadziBut Dariusz
Michalczewski (38 Fights, 38 Wins, 31 KOs) will have to struggle hard for
the chance to catch up with his legendary predecessor and write boxing history -
against an awkward and tough challenger.
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