The left hand boxing glove worn by Mike Tyson in his first professional boxing fight is expected to sell for $20,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas,
The glove, worn by Tyson in his 1985 fight versus Hector Mercedes, has also been signed by Iron Mike.
The unfortunate Mercedes lasted just 1:47 into the first round before some brutal body shots from Tyson forced the referee to end the fight.
The glove has been consigned by an attendee of the fight at the Empire State Convention Centre in Albany.
"The date was March 6th, 1985. It was a short fight. A TKO in the first round. After they cut the gloves off Mike, he threw them into the audience and his left glove landed in my lap. I went up to ringside and he autographed the inside of his glove. I was proud to be able to witness an important and exciting night in the history of boxing."
The glove, which has an estimate of $20,000, with bidding currently at $8,750, is sold with a letter of authenticity from Heritage Auctions, and a second from Beckett Authentication Services.
Perhaps surprisingly there has not been much of a market for Mike Tyson memorabilia but this may be about to change as at $20,000 we believe this would make the glove the second most expensive piece of his memorabilia ever sold.
It's pretty easy to find a Tyson signed boxing glove on eBay for $200-$500 but to find Tyson owned/used/worn boxing memorabilia is rare.
A pair of his famous black shorts, worn in the October 2000 fight versus Andrew Golota, were sold by Goldin Auctions for $4,071.
The most valuable Tyson memorabilia, as far as we are aware, remain the black shorts worn by Mike in the 1986 fight versus Trevor Birbeck, when he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history.
These were sold for $41,372 at iconic Auctions in August 2015.
About your Author:
Adrian Roose has over 30 years’ experience covering all aspects of the rare stamp & memorabilia industry during which he has sold over £50m of unique items, helping build collections for Royalty, household name celebrities and 1,000s of collectors around the world.
Adrian was previously a Director at Stanley Gibbons, a Board Member of Stampex, and Executive Director of Paul Fraser Collectibles, PFC Auctions and JustCollecting, prior to founding The Memorabilia Club.