The boxing gloves that Muhammad Ali (pictured left) sported in his famed 1964 heavyweight title bout against Sonny Liston (pictured right) are going up for auction and are expected to fetch $500,000, according to ESPN.
Ali, who at the time of the bout was boxing under his given name of Cassius Clay, wore the gloves Feb. 25, 1964. The bout was one that went down in history when the then mouthy 22-year-old defeated Liston by way of a technical knockout and shouted to the world, “I am the greatest!” Shortly after the fight, Ali joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
The gloves had actually been previously purchased from the estate sale of Ali’s former trainer, Angelo Dundee, back in December 2002. The gloves sold for a reported $385,848 to an undisclosed buyer.
Now housed at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, the world’s largest collectibles auctioneer, the preliminary bidding process for the highly coveted gloves has begun and $170,000 is the highest amount offered so far. The actual auction, however, will take place Feb. 22 and the gloves are expected to fetch as much as $500,000, according to the experts at Heritage.
So far, a pair of Ali’s gloves fetched $1.1 million, purchased by UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertita. The gloves were worn by the beloved former heavyweight boxing champ in 1965 when he defended his title against Floyd Patterson.
