Appeal for information launched following theft of East London boxing statue
The statue of Teddy Baldock was stolen from its plinth over the weekend.
The grandson of Britain's youngest boxing world champion is appealing for information after the statue of his father was stolen over the weekend.
Teddy Baldock won the World Bantamweight title in 1927 aged just 19-years-old.
In 2014, his grandson Martin Sax lead a campaign to honour him with a statue outside the Spotlight Youth Centre in Poplar.
The unveiling itself we had 12 former world British boxing champions in attendance. My mum she is 90 now, she was his only child. She was there and obviously for her it was an amazingly proud day. To also see so many people turn up, it was a fantastic event.
Martin told us about the moment he discovered the statue had gone missing.
"I found out about it from a Facebook post and then got a friend to confirm it was stolen.
"Obviously I am very upset by what has happened but I think upset and anger probably run hand in hand.
"I've not told my mum. she is in a care home now and I think if we did tell her she would be heartbroken".
The statue was placed outside of a youth club in Poplar, and Martin believes it helped serve as important inspiration to young people living there.
"Here you have an example of a youth from poplar who turned professional when he was 14 years of age and rose to the pinnacle of his sporting career
"It really doesn't matter if your career is in dance or music, to come from such humble beginnings and make it to world champion, it is an inspiration".
Martin told us he is worried the statue, which means so much to his family and the local community, will just be sold for scrap.
"The people who have stolen it, obviously they have no moral compass, its just a lump of metal to them. There would only be so many places that could deal with scrapping that type of metal and just melting it down".
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police, who are ivestigating the theft, said "Police were called at 20.07hrs on Sunday, 1 February following reports that a statue had been stolen from outside Langdon Park, Poplar.
"No arrests have been made at this early stage of the investigation.
"Officers are carrying out enquiries to identify those responsible and will continue to follow every available line of enquiry.
"If you have any information please contact 101 quoting CAD 6133/1Feb. To remain anonymous, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111".