Sideline Sid Sports correspondent & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Next week's 2022 Boxing New Zealand National Championships in Whanganui will be held under a cloud of disappointment and disbelief, with the loss of two of the biggest prizes of the sport.

The Jameson Belt and the Ted Morgan Cup went missing in transit on the way to the rescheduled 2021 BNZ Nationals held in Whanganui in April 2022.

During the intervening months, all efforts to track down the two symbols of excellence in boxing in the country have hit a brick wall.

Both missing trophies have a long and illustrious history dating back to the 1920s.

Presented to the (then) New Zealand Boxing Association by Dublin distillery John Jameson & Son in 1927 - the award to the most scientific senior boxer at each championships was first won by Auckland bantamweight Jack O'Sullivan, at the 1927 Invercargill Nationals.

The following year saw the Ted Morgan Cup instituted for the first time, in recognition of Ted Morgan winning New Zealand's first Olympic gold medal, at the 1928 Olympic Games held in Amsterdam.

Wellington boxer Phin Stone was the first pugilist to have his name engraved on the newly minted Ted Morgan Cup in 1928.

The historic trophy is presented to the senior welterweight champion.

The names on the Jameson Belt read like a who's who of amateur boxing in our country.

Olympic Bronze medallist David Nyika won the sport's biggest prize in the light heavyweight division at the 2014 Nationals in Queenstown.

Shane Cameron kicked-off a glittering professional career after annexing the Jameson Belt in Taupo during 2001.

Cameron still remains the only boxer in the glamour heavyweight division to claim the Jameson prize.

There is a strong Western Bay of Plenty connection to the Jameson Belt through Tauranga Boxing Club head coach Chris Walker.

The new light welterweight national titleholder went on to continue his outstanding run of form, earning a berth in the New Zealand team at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

However, no one can compete with the Jackson brothers, who won the Jameson Belt six years straight during the 1970's.

Ron opened proceedings, claiming the Jameson Belt in 1973 and 1974, before David took out the big prize the following season.

Ron again went back to back in 1976 and 1977, with David holding the Jameson Belt aloft in triumph at the 1978 National Championships.

Standing in the Jackson brothers' corner was legendary Hutt Valley boxing trainer Alan Scaife.

The Heretaunga Boxing Club mentor set a record unlikely to ever be beaten, winning the Joe Thwaites Shield presented to Jameson Belt winner's coach, six years in succession.

In more recent times, Canterbury's Nathan McEwan and Hutt Valley local hero Joe Blackbourn both won the Jameson Belt, twice.

In 2006, McEwan defeated Blackbourn to win the middleweight crown, with the result reversed the following year.

On both occasions the victor was awarded the Jameson Belt.

While Boxing New Zealand history records all the Jameson Belt and Ted Morgan Cup winners, there will be a sense of sadness on National finals night without the actual links to past greatness that the presentation of the two trophies bring.