Kennedy Limwanya and Vincent Zulu
9 May 2008
Ndola — IN May 1980, Charm "Shuffle" Chiteule arrived on the internatinal scene with victory over former Commonwealth featherweight champion, David Needham, in May 1984, he retired from the sport and in May 2008, he departed for good.
It was a professional career lasting only six years, but one whose influence will linger on forever with President Mwanawasa honouring him 23 years later, in October 2007, the month in which he was born way back in 1953.
It was as if that were all he had been waiting for, because barely seven months after the State House honour, the man who had mastered the "Sweet Science" succumbed to the cold hand of death in his home town of Kabwe.
Chiteule's death has thus brought to a close an exciting chapter in Zambian boxing, a chapter whose pages read like a who's who with legendary names like Lottie Mwale, Chisanda Mutti and John Sichula.
Chiteule had been the surviving vestige of that great period when Zambian professional boxers were a constant item on the international boxing menu.
Like Mwale, Mutti and Sichula, Chiteule fought world class boxers, winning some and losing some in a career that saw the epthet "Shuffle" sticking to him until his last day on May, 6, 2008.
In those days, as Lottie fought renowned fighters like Saad Muhammad, Marvin Johnson, Mustapha Muhammad, Johnny Conteh and Leslie Stewart and Mutti was squaring it out with the class of Evander Holyfield and Rickey Parkey, Chiteule was also having a fair share of big-name fighters.
In 1982, for instance, the then 29-year-old Chiteule took the best chance of his career, challenging Africa and Commonwealth featherweight champion, Azumah Nelson, who was five years younger.
The fight that was held in Lusaka was seen as one that would throw Chiteule into the big-money bracket and open the way for a world title tilt.
Nay, it was not to be.
Chiteule lost on a 10th round knockout to the Ghanaian who would go on to reign supreme as World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight champion before stepping up into the super-featherweight category.
Looking back at that February 28 knockout, Chiteule said he was hit by a rabbit punch which the referee did not see.
Quoted in Zambian Sporting Score (1986), Chiteule said: "It is not wise to keep on bringing excuses but certainly some cases have to be looked at from different angles.
"I could have put up a better fight against Azumah but I have always not seen anything special about him or maybe I couldn't rise to the occasion on that blistering afternoon. All the same, I did enjoy the fight while it lasted."
After that defeat, Chiteule would fight for only two more years before hanging up his gloves and returning to Zambia after spending five years at London's Wellington Stables under the tutelage of famed trainer, George Francis.
Chiteule's short stay in the paid ranks may be attributed to the fact that he turned professional rather late and at the time he started getting big fights, the body had begun to give in.
Usually, sportsmen hit peak form between the ages of 23 and 28, but for Chiteule, he only turned years ahead of him.
That explains why he spent only six years as a professional, retiring when he was 31 and taking up boxing administration beginning with the formation of the Shuffle International Promotions, serving in the Professional Boxing Board of Control and ending up as president of the Zambia Amateur Boxing Federation.
"At 25, my handlers should have gambled and thrown me in fights rather than wait till late. I owe my boxing life to Wilfried Sauerland. He tried to get me reasonable fights but it wasn't to be. I still feel that if I had started earlier, I would have probably fulfilled my ring ambition to become world champion."
After knocking out former Commonwealth champion Needham in an elimination bout in Lusaka, Chiteule had had to wait for almost two years before taking on Azumah, and that had become somewhat frustrating for the massively talented boxer who was running out of time which each passing year.
At retirement, Chiteule's dream of winning a world title had failed to materialise although although some of his career victories included a second round knockout of former world champion, Cecilio Lastra, in Kiel, West Germany.
He had not made enough money from his career and ability to successfully go into business was more out of sheer ingenuity.
Chiteule was the proprietor of Nyaka Guest House and The Pavillion in Kabwe, two business concerns that were running relatively well.
"I had always hoped that the only time I was going to earn some bread in the ring was going to come from a world championship fight which never came.
"The fight game is a very physically demanding sport, for I have lived probably half my life in tip-top condition. When you are younger you are bound to reach top form in a flash."
While young and doing his primary school education in Kitwe, Chiteule began his career at Rhokana Amateur Boxing Club, winning two gold medals during the East and Central Africa championships in 1974 and 1975.
At the peak of Zambian amateur boxing, Chiteule was picked in the Zambian contingent to the 1976 Olympic Games in Canada, but again, luck was not on his side.
The boxing team that included, Mwale, Mutti and Sichula returned to Zambia frustrated because of an African boycott of the games.
After that, Chiteule fought just one more year and turned professional in 1978 under Ronnie Sharpe's Leo Promotions before joining International Sports Promotions which was co-maned by Rupiah Banda, Tony Phiri and Sauerland.
In January 1979, Chiteule left for London together with Mwale to train under trainer Francis and two months later, he returned to Lusaka to win the Zambian featherweight title from Titus Sangwapo.
Because of the difficulty in getting fights in London, Chiteule fought mainly in West Germany and by 1984 he had had 34 professional fights, winning 28, losing five and drawing one.
One of the fight defeats was to Irishman, Barry McGuigan, through a 10th round knockout in a Commonwealth eliminator in Belfast.
But even after hanging up his gloves, Chiteule was determined to ensure that he continued contributing to the development Zambian boxing until he died on May 6.
This is the very reason why everyone who knew the articulate former boxer is struck with grief.
Man of the moment in Zambian boxing, Anthony Mwamba, manager cum trainer of newly crowned WIBF super featherweight world champion Esther Phiri, describes the passing on of Chiteule as a 'knock-out' blow to him.
A sombre sounding Mwamba recalls that he owes his first international gold medal to the tutelage of the late Chiteule who helped shape him up for the East and Central African championship in the early 1980s.
"It is indeed a very sad day for boxing in Zambia, Charm was someone who really had a heart for boxing, even when he hang up his gloves, he was always there," said Mwamba of the man who did the live television fight commentaries on Esther.
Veteran boxing administrator, Everson Kalenga, who worked closely with Chiteule on several occasion, said he was a real fighter who did a lot to try and put the name of this country on the map.
Kalenga who is BBC secretary, said Chiteule through his amateur boxing club, contributed towards efforts to revamp the sport at the lower ranks and he would be truly missed by the Zambian boxing fraternity.
Chiteule's predecessor at ZABF, Thomas Chileshe, described his death as a great loss to the boxing fraternity as he still had a lot to offer to the development of the sport in the country.
He said Chiteule died at a time when Zambia had started reorganising itself in boxing and he could have done more to take back boxing where it used to belong in the 1980s and challenged those in office to emulate him by carrying his vision forward.
"It is a great loss not only to his family but the boxing fraternity and the nation as a whole, Chiteule was a selfless person with a heart for boxing and was very accommodating. He invited me to Kabwe so that we could chat and come up with ideas on how best to improve the sport," Chileshe said, adding that the onus was now on the current crop of administrators to see how best they could develop the sport and bring honour as a way of honouring Chiteule and other fallen heroes.
"He used to offer advice during my time as ZABF president and we had a good working relationship because of his passion to develop the sport. All the ideas that we had put through hopefully would be implemented by his vice and all in the executive," Chileshe said.
Indeed, the passing on of the charming Charming Chiteule symbolises the closure of an exciting book, a book which while open was ready by all that had eyes.
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