The 100-year-old trophy was dented, tarnished and dull, but was a cherished piece of family heritage.
The silver cup belonged to heavyweight Larry Gains, the first black boxer to fight in the Royal Albert Hall.
Larry won it as Canadian amateur champion in 1922, a year before he turned pro and emigrated to the UK.
Granddaughter Janie Davis, 73, says: “It represents all the obstacles and prejudice grandad overcame.”
Janie and her nephew Paul Simmons, 34, turned to BBC ’s Repair Shop to get the trophy mended and enthralled host Jay Blades and silversmith Brenton West with Larry’s life story.
He began boxing at the age of 20 in 1920 and came to England, on a cattle ship, to further his career.
It took him around the world and he fell in love with Liza, 16, in Cologne, Germany. They married and settled in Leicester and then Shoeburyness, Essex.
Larry joined the Army as a physical trainer in 1939 and served as a sergeant major in the Royal Pioneer Corps in the Middle East. He died of a heart attack in 1984 but Liza lived until her 90s.
Janie, a retired hairdresser from South West London, says: “Grandad was such a clever and lovely man. He made a lot of money. Nan used to tell me they’d stay in posh hotels and she’d buy fox furs.”
Being black, Larry was only allowed to fight for the Coloured Heavyweight World Championship. Paul said: “It’s shocking, really. It was unjust that he couldn’t be a world champion.”
Janie and Paul were stunned by the restoration of the trophy. Janie says: “It has pride of place on our mantlepiece.”
The Repair Shop, BBC1, 3.45pm.
