Boxing Belt Mystery Thickens…

Previously we wrote about a mystery boxer’s belt found in our collection with no other information associated with it. Since then, thanks to one of our volunteers, we have learned some more about the belt – and learned that there’s more we’ll possibly never know.

Have we met before?

Our eagle-eyed volunteer Craig spotted this photograph of a boxer wearing a very similar looking belt while researching potential leads. The boxer is Alf Reed, one of the best lightweight boxers in London in the Edwardian period (1901-1910), whose family still have the belt today. The photograph and a biography of Alf were featured in Issue 1 of the Old Timer Boxing magazine produced by Miles Templeton, a boxing historian.

The plot twist

However, there is one significant difference between the belts. Alf’s belt is inscribed with the following: ‘Presented by Mr Joe Smith for the Featherweight Championship won by Alf Reed 1903’. Ours, however, doesn’t have any inscription; the plot thickens. This led us to believe that perhaps our belt was never awarded to anyone and maybe wasn’t commissioned for a specific fight as we had previously thought.

I reached out to Miles Templeton to check out our theory and he agreed. Miles explained that our belt was one of a number of similar ones awarded to boxers at this time and that it’s possible that many of these belts were produced and available for purchase ‘off the shelf’ rather than commissioned for individual fights. Essentially, an older and fancier version of the plastic trophies you can buy online today. The fact that these were so widely available for purchase demonstrates the popularity of boxing at the time.

The end – for now

Whilst this is an interesting bit of history in itself, it does likely mean our investigation has hit a dead end, as the belt is too common to narrow down its origin. Perhaps the fight it was bought for never took place or perhaps someone bought it for personal use to display in their home. Perhaps it was collected by a curator at Leeds Museums and Galleries with an interest in silver engraving, or by someone working on a predecessor to our current Sports Heritage project. Maybe one day we will find out exactly who purchased the belt, why, and how and when it ended up in our collection, but for now it remains unsolved.

If you’d like to get involved in the Sports Heritage project and join our team of detectives/volunteers please email Catherine Robins.