David Kotei turned professional under trainer
Attuquaye Clottey. His first professional bout was on 5 February 1966 in Accra when he outpointed his opponent over six rounds. He became the national featherweight champion that year. Although he fought once in neighbouring
Togo in 1967, all his subsequent fights through to 1971 were all in Ghana. In 1972 however, he fought as much as seven times in Australia, winning five and losing two. He won the African featherweight title on 2 February 1974 when he knocked out
Tahar Ben Hassen in the first round of a scheduled 15 round fight in
Tunis,
Tunisia. Later on 7 December 1974, he also won the Commonwealth featherweight title with a technical knock out over
Evan Armstrong, a British boxer in round 10 of a scheduled 15 rounds bout. This victory gave him an opportunity to go for the
World Boxing Council version of the world title. On 20 September 1975, in
The Forum,
Inglewood, California, United States, he beat
Rubén Olivares by split points decision after 15 rounds to become the first Ghanaian world boxing champion. He however lost the title in his third defence on 6 November 1976 by unanimous points decision to
Danny "Little Red" Lopez in a fierce fight in Accra, Ghana.He is married with three daughters. He also defeated Fuku Yama in Japan. DK Poison was never the same again after this defeat. He failed in 1978 to regain either the world or commonwealth featherweight titles. His last professional bout was in 1989 when he lost an African lightweight title fight. ==Professional boxing record==