Lottie Mwale (14 April 1952 – 18 October 2005) was a Zambian male Light Heavyweight-class boxer who was Commonwealth and African Boxing Union champion for a period of six years.

Mwale also won the World Boxing Council (WBC) International title after defeating Ray Acquaye of Ghana in eight rounds in Lusaka in December 1990.

[1] His brother-in-law was professional boxer Jackson Mambwe who also played a role in luring Mwale into the boxing ring, giving him his initial coaching and encouraging him to continue with the sport.

[4] An x-ray revealed that the injury was a slight sprain and this brought a sigh of relief to the Zambian camp, paving the way for the clash with Scottish champion Alexander ‘Cy’ Harrison, a bout which Mwale predicted would be ‘too easy.’ And so it proved to be as Mwale outboxed his Scottish opponent to collect the light-middleweight gold medal on a unanimous points decision, becoming the first Zambian Sportsman to reach such an achievement.

In May 1975, he won a gold medal during the East and Central African Amateur Boxing Championship in Lusaka,[6] and the following year, Zambia dethroned world champions the United States in the International Council of Military Sports (CISM) Games and Mwale, fighting as a middleweight, was voted boxer of the tournament.

After 5 consecutive wins including three victories over Americans Fred Brown, Jesse Burnett and Ed Turner, Mwale won the right to challenge WBC light-heavyweight champion Matthew Saad Muhammad.

“I wanted to show that I could fight him but he proved to be stronger than me.” He also dismissed suggestions that he lost because he was lighter than Muhammad and urged his fans to accept the defeat – “When you lose, you don't start talking rubbish.

There are no excuses.”[8] In December 1981, Mwale was a victim of police brutality when he was detained and beaten up by policemen in Lusaka for allegedly splashing muddy water on people by the roadside.

Mwale knew that at the age of 38, this was probably his last chance to win an international belt so he trained hard for the fight and turned back the years with an eighth-round knockout in Lusaka.

He however lost the belt in his very next fight to Virgil Hill of the United States two years later in Bismarck, North Dakota after which his promoter called Sandy Saddler (not to be mistaken for the former featherweight champion), disappeared with his $55,000 purse money, leaving him stranded until the Zambian High Commission came to his aid.

He won his next two fights against Wally Kafumbi and Jim Murray and then attempted to win back the Zambian light-heavyweight title which was by then held by Mike Chilambe.

When Mwale, who was very much alive, complained that the story had led to the WBC stopping his pension, the magazine retracted the article with an apology, calling it 'an horrendous error' on their part.