Lottie Mwalie discussion

He had a disputed points win over Marvin Johnson in Belgrade (by disputed: it was originally judged a draw, then Mwale’s backers protested and had two instances that were judged as slips changed to knockdowns by the official commission, which then changed the scores to reflect their ruling and awarded Mwale a decision).

https://www.times.co.zm/?p=9621

He also beat Mustafa Wasajja on points — another African light heavyweight of note who found a spot in the rankings a time or two. There were also wins over Bunny Johnson and Jesse Burnett.

Those are his best wins (although he also beat the wonderfully named Proud Kilimanjaro and Captain Cleopas Marvel in back-to-back fights). He did hold a Commonwealth championship for a while.

That’s to go with losses to Virgil Hill, Prince Charles Williams, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and, in KO of the Year fashion, Matthew Saad Muhammad.

It appears he had promotional investment at various times in England and Germany to help his career along and lure some name opponents over.

I think we can call him a gatekeeper at the world level.

 

Hi Buddy.
Have some good memories of Mwale, he was a consummate box/puncher, very languid, quite a smooth operator, trouble was he wasn't what you would call a bona fide true LHW, he might well have fought at 175, but I suspect he took liquid onboard to get there, he worked out in the back of a pub in Archway, north london when approaching a big fight, and I would go along to watch, he would spar hard and spiteful, often knocking the paid hands headgear sideways, the only exception would be if Frankie Lucas turned up, then things got really heated, despite the pleas of George Francis to take it easy, it fell on deaf ears where these two were concerned, no hand shake, or tap of gloves pre the spar, Lucas would spit on the floor, while Mwale would empty his nose same place, Frankie fought in the most tattred outfit I have ever seen, holes in the vest, brown stains on his tracksuit bottoms ( don't ask ) his boxing boots had no laces, he only had half a gumshield, hair matted and not seen shampoo for many a week, did he care ? not in the slightest, he was there to put as much hurt on Mwale as time would allow.
The first time they had a spa, I heard Lottie complain to Francis ( prior to the action ) that he wanted a good workout, and how could the smaller lighter Lucas provide that, don't worry Francis assured him, you will get all the hard sparring you can handle in about 1 minute, I have seen less action in many a title fight, I kid you not, both were loath to take backward step, you could hear the punches all around the makeshift gym, fighters on the bag would stop and stare, shaking their heads in disbelief and awe, I remember once after a brutal 6 round spar, Lucas called Francis aside and asked if the next 4 could be without headguards, C,mon........
Memories.
stay safe guys.

 

What I always remember about Mwale was him being the first to deck Gary Summerhays

 

He also had a first-round KO of Tony Sibson in there.

 

More to dispute about the Marvin Johnson fight. After the 8th round Johnson and his corner wanted the fight to continue, insistimg that it was a 10 round fight. Mwale refused to continue and the fight ended there. Of course Johnson claimed that he had much more to give than Mwale and that he would have won the last two rounds and the decision.

 

You know who I think is even more underrated from that era ? Jesse Burnett. He kind of fought like Bob Foster, and was shafted badly against Conteh, L.Spinks. he lost many close decisions that he should've won. I even heard he should've beat Galindez the 1st time aswell.

 

Burnett dropped Mwale and lost a decision … he was one of those guys who was always in close fights with the top players but couldn’t quite get over most of the time. Sometimes that’s down a guy’s style — good offense but gets hit often (like Troy Dorsey) or fights well in spurts but difficult to score because he also lets his foot off the gas for periods of rounds (I think of Burnett that way).

And how is it that Burnett never fought Richie Kates, who was kind of the same way? Or did they and I missed it somehow?

 

No, they never met, but 175 was so deep back then that a few slipped through the net. Fights with Kates, Rossman and Saad would have been great. But his resume against Galindez, Conteh, Spinks, Gregory, Cuello and 4 times against Yaqui wasn’t too shabby.

 

And another one, a fight that maybe, just maybe would exist on film somewhere (if Chris Dundee had a camera set up): Burnett lost a 10-round majority decision to James Scott in 1975 in Miami when both were 9-0-1.

Burnett’s next two fights, he split a pair of decisions with Yaqui on the West Coast.

Scott’s next fight was three years later in prison in Rahway, NJ … and three fights after that he was beating the stuffing out of Eddie Mustafa Muhammad (Gregory at the time) in that same prison yard, haha.

Imagine being able to witness a rising Scott vs. a rising Burnett on a random Tuesday night in Miami at the convention hall … probably get ringside for 10 or 12 bucks.

 

That was a fantastic read Mike, nice one. @Clinton you'd enjoy this post mate.

 

You're digging deep now young whippersnapper!!! You are spot on, Burnett is one of those many guys who are far better than their record suggests. Over the years I've read quite a bit of praise for him from both opponents and scribes of the time.

 

That's what made the division so deep at the time.

A guy on the way up did not have the luxury of setups and optimal opponents. And not a multitude of belts around either so opportunites to climb up the ladder were so tough.

Imagine a guy===lets call him Willie Win. 14-0 and ranked say #15 in the world. Look at the level of competition for him to reach the top 5 at the time. It might take 2 years and show up 1 time with his B game and there is a loss. Very well lose a bout when at his best against those guys. Now back to #12 ranked. And all those guys back then seemed to hang tough and not get stopped==so no more ko's to create a big interest. And another big thing was there were other pedigreed up and comers.

I think it was the deepest and toughest division I've seen in my life. Lots of really good fighters that came up at the wrong time. I can imagine them watching the sport since that timeframe and wishing they had come up at a different time and the results, and money, is a whole lot different.

But things in life go back to timing. How vital and important it is.