allAfrica.com: Zambia: The End of the Charming Charm (Page 1 of 2)

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.

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