The white boxing shorts he wore were on display Mohamed Ali Klay During his epic “Thriller in Manila” fight with his rival Joe Frazier, it will be sold at auction on Thursday, and is expected to fetch more than $6 million.
Sotheby’s auction house said that the shorts, which date back to the October 1975 fight in the Philippines that Ali won, are up for sale in an auction that will continue to receive orders until April 12.
Muhammad Ali Clay’s pants during his fight against Joe Frazier in Manila in 1975 (Sotheby’s)
Muhammad Ali Clay Pants and Auctions
The auction house added that the pants were sold for the first time at auction in 1988 after they were extracted from the storage locker of Drew Bondini Brown, Muhammad Ali’s assistant coach, after his death, for about a thousand dollars.
Since then, the pants have been sold at more than one auction and passed from one owner to another. The last time they were put up at auction was in 2012 when they were sold for a little more than $150,000.
In the intense heat of the afternoon in the Philippines, the boxing world witnessed one of the most prominent fights in its history between Clay and Fraser for the third and final time in a giant struggle that etched itself in the annals of sports history.
Muhammad Ali Clay pants displayed by Sotheby’s (Reuters)
Clay and Fraser fights
While it proved to be a frightening confrontation, Ali retained the heavyweight title, and despite the victory, Callas described the fight as the most difficult in his professional life, saying that it was the most time he had ever felt close to death.
In the first of three bouts between the two boxers, Frazier broke Ali’s undefeated record when he dropped him with a left hook in the 15th round en route to a unanimous decision victory in March 1971.
Ali got his revenge when he defeated Frazier in a 12-round unanimous decision in January 1974, setting the stage for the “Thriller in Manila” nearly two years later.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali Clay died in June 2016 at the age of 74, leaving an unforgettable legacy in the sport of the noble art.
2024-04-06 02:27:55
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