It has been reported that the WBC championship belt given to former President Nelson Mandela by multiply world boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard on one of his visits to South Africa has been stolen from the Nelson Mandela National Museum in Soweto, in the west of Johannesburg.
This is a rather sad reflection on society as there is no way that the belt which said to be worth R50 0000 could be sold, as Leonard and the recipient are known around the world.
THE RING CHAMPIONSHIP BELT
However, this is not the first time that a world championship belt has been stolen in South Africa.
The Ring championship belt which was presented to South Africa’s Vic Toweel after he had won the universal world bantamweight title from Manuel Ortiz on 31 May 1950 was stolen from his home in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg some time afterwards.
It has never been recovered and the theory is that the person or persons who stole the belt thought that it was made of gold, which it was not.
The Ring magazine first began awarding championship belts in in 1922 and the first belt was awarded to heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey and the second belt was awarded to flyweight champion Pancho Villa.
The only other South African to be presented with The Ring championship belt is Hekkie Budler.
OTHER CHAMPIONSHIP BELTS STOLEN
In June 1986 two championship won by the legendary world heavyweight champion Joe Louis were stolen from an office in the Rolling Hills Estates in America.
One of the belts was the British Empire Belt, won in 1939 and the other the American Championship Belt given to him in 1937.
SIX BELTS STOLEN FROM INTERNATIONAL BOXING HALL OF FAME
On 5 November 2015 there was a break-in at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York, about 30 kilometres east of Syracuse and belts from three display cases were stolen.
Four of the belts belonged to Carmen Basilio and two belts that belonged to Tony Zale.
Basilio was the world welterweight and middleweight champion and Zale the middleweight champion.
That was at the time when there were only eight champions in eight weight divisions so a world champion was special and so are the belts.
LORD LONSDALE BELT
The Lord Lonsdale Challenge Belt, commonly known as the Lonsdale Belt, is the oldest championship belt in British professional boxing.
The first Lonsdale belt was won by Freddie Welsh in 1909 after winning the British lightweight title and heavyweight Henry Cooper is the first and only boxer to win three belts.
Only six fighters have won two Lonsdale belts, each outright since 1934, which led to the British Boxing Board of Control introducing more stringent rules in the 1980s and 1990s.
The last winner of two belts was Clinton McKenzie in 1987.
The Lonsdale belt is a coveted prize with great monetary value possibly more than any other belt in the world and have also been stolen on a number of occasions. None have ever been recovered.
The original Challenge Belt was presented by the National Sporting Club 1909-1929/
The first belts were made in the Birmingham workshop of jewellers Mappin & Webb The silversmiths and trophy makers Thomas Fattorini Ltd, were commissioned to make the belts in sterling silver in the early 1970s and have been making them since.
The Lonsdale belt won by Bombardier Billy Wells in 1911 is now kept at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, London, and is not on display to the general public.
Johnny Brown’s Lonsdale Belt was donated to the Museum of London in 2010 and I have had the privilege of viewing the belt on a visit to London.
In November 2000 the belt awarded to Randy Turpin in 1956 was auctioned for £23 000 (approximately R460 000) and in September 2011, the belt won by the welterweight champion Jack Hood in 1926 fetched £36 000 (approximately R720 000).
BELTS STOLEN
Over the years Lonsdale belt have attracted thieves and to date none have been recovered.
Former British heavyweight champion Don Cockell’s belt was stolen in 1952 from a glass cabinet in his home in London. At the time he had not won the belt outright.
In 2007 after attending a training camp Bobby Vanzie returned to his home and found that his Lonsdale belt had been stolen.
Pat McAteer, a former British and Empire middleweight champion who visited South Africa and defended his Empire title against South Africa’s Jimmy Elliot, had his Lonsdale belt stolen from his son’s home in Annapolis, Maryland, in the USA in 2012.
On 4 May 1957 McAteer stopped Elliot in the sixth round to retain his Empire title at the Wembley Stadium in Johannesburg.
Rather sadly Elliot collapsed after the fight and died the next day.
British and Empire heavyweight champion Jack Petersen’s Lonsdale belt was stolen from his son's home in Burnham, Buckinghamshire, in 2013.