An exceptionally rare Muhammad Ali hand drawn cartoon is to be offered by Swan Fine Art Auctions in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.
The ink sketch shows a cartoon figure of Joe Frazier, seeing stars, after he's been knocked out by Ali.
Ali has written 'Joe Frazier - after KO' and signed at the base 'Muhammad Ali' dating the drawing to '15th July 1986 - London'.
Ali was in London to support Tim Witherspoon in his world title fight against Frank Bruno on July 19th.
The auction takes place on 3rd March with the cartoon, which measures 15cm by 10cm, having an estimate of £6,000 - £8,000.
The provenance states the item comes from the collection of bare knuckle boxer Paddy Monaghan, a known friend of Ali, and is sold with a letter of authenticity from Paddy's son Tyrone.
Whilst Muhammad Ali signatures aren't particularly rare, his hand drawn cartoons are.
The last to sell was in June 2012 at Julien's in Los Angeles when a 1976 drawing showing Ali knocking out Sonny Liston sold for $3,898, against an estimate of $1,500 - $2,000.
The drawing shows Ali celebrating in his corner with Liston lying on the canvas in the middle of the ring.
Ali first drew this image in 1966 and donated the original to a charity in Miami.
He replicated the drawing in 1976 for his friend Tim Shanahan, the author of 'Running with the Champ', who also ran a charity which arranged for athletes to speak to underprivileged children, Ali included.
You can follow the auction at Swan Fine Art.
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.