Statue of world champion boxer stolen from park

A bronze statue of world champion boxer Teddy Baldock has been stolen from an east London park.

CCTV shows four people dressed all in black pulling the artwork off its plinth in Langdon Park, Poplar, on Sunday and taking it away hidden inside a cargo bike, leaving nothing behind apart from its boots.

Police said they were notified of the missing statue at 20:00 GMT and that the suspects were last seen traveling northbound towards Bromley-by-Bow Underground station.

Baldock, known as the "Pride of Poplar", became Britain's youngest ever world boxing champion at the age of 19 when he won the bantamweight title in 1927.

Martin Sax, his grandson, who helped raise funds for the statue, said: "I got a phone call asking if I'd heard it had gone and it was confirmed it was gone.

"I'm angry, I'm upset and I'm not sure how we would get it replaced, I'm gutted.

"It was huge task to raise the money for the statue - to think that it was just for its scrap value, and not even a lot of value."

Teddy Baldock was born in Poplar in 1907.

He enjoyed a rapid rise in the 1920s and gained huge popularity for his speed, skill and exciting fighting style.

After retiring young due to injuries, he fell into poverty and died in 1971 with little public recognition.

Sax added: "[Teddy Baldock] was from a very humble background.

"He started making money from boxing age 14, he won the title at 19 and people have gone and cut that statue down for what?"

The statue was erected in Langdon Park in 2014.

Det Supt Oliver Richter, responsible for neighbourhood policing in Tower Hamlets, said: "We understand this is a very distressing time for members of our community to have a monument of a local hero treated this way.

"I want to assure the public that our officers are working at pace to identify those responsible and will continue to follow every available line of inquiry.

"We'd appeal to anyone with information to get in touch with police."

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