Chiswick Auctions in London are offering a pair of Muhammad Ali fight worn boxing trunks in their 14th February sale, with a £15,000 - £20,000 estimate.
The trunks were worn by Ali in his December 1981 Drama in Bahama fight versus Trevor Berbick.
Nassua, Bahamas was chosen as the venue for the fight as no American State would grant a licence for Ali to box after his poor performance against Larry Holmes in October 1980.
A 39 year old Ali Weighed in at 107kg, compared to his 98.7kg against Holmes a year prior.
Ali lost the Drama in Bahama fight on a points decision, and it proved to be his final fight, as he retired with a 56-5 career record.
Ali's trunks are the MacGregor brand, in white and black trim with the MacGregor name on the front waistband. It was the first and only time that Ali wore the MacGregor brand having always worn Everlast trunks hrhoughout his career.
The provenance states that the trunks are from the collection of the German Sports reporter Hartmut Scherzer to whom they were gifted by Ali's trainer Angelo Dundee, at the end of the Nassua fight.
We think Chiswick Auctions have placed a rather conservative estimate of £15,000 - £20,000 for a superb piece of Muhammad Ali memorabilia.
You can view the lot at Chiswick Auctions.
A relevant comparison would be the sale of Ali's Everlast trunks he wore in his 1976 fight versus Jimmy Young which sold for £18,000 at Graham Budd Auctions in May 2017.
But since then the Muhammad Ali memorabilia market has truly taken off with Ali’s red robe worn prior to his 1971 fight with Joe Frazier selling at Heritage Auctions for $348,000 against an estimate of $100,000 in July 2022.
In the same sale Heritage also sold Ali's championship from the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle fight versus George Foreman.
Estimated at $150,000 the belt sold for $1.68m becoming the fourth most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold.
Based on that we can expect Ali's last fight shorts to sell for $100,000++
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.