Phiri's trainer Anthony Mwamba told CNN that when he first met Phiri, she was renting a one-room house, sleeping on the bare floor with her daughter. It said she took up boxing as part of an HIV-awareness sport program run by an international NGO.

Phiri, 23, began her boxing career seven years ago and still trains at the gym where she started.Ī biography of Phiri on the Women's Boxing Archive Network describes how she dropped out of school and became a single mother at the age of 16 after her family fell on hard times. It is a rags-to-riches tale reminiscent of the Hollywood film Million Dollar Baby, but transported to a country where the average life expectancy is 38 - the second lowest in the world, according to the CIA World Factbook. She lives in a house given to her by her country's former president Levy Mwanawasa and owns a small property empire bought with her prize money. Today she is a world boxing champion and a household name in Zambia. Lusaka, Zambia (CNN) - Esther Phiri grew up helping her grandmother sell vegetables in a poor township in the Zambian capital Lusaka.

Phiri now lives in a house given to her by Zambia's former president.She grew up in a poor Lusaka township and became a single mother at 16.Esther Phiri is WIBA Light Welterweight World Champion.

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