Muhammad Ali 'Fight of the Century' Gloves

Two unbeaten heavyweights and a divided country

Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. Army in Houston on April 28, 1967, was convicted of draft evasion that June and was stripped of his titles. He did not fight for three and a half years. He came back on October 26, 1970, against Jerry Quarry, then beat Oscar Bonavena that December, and walked into 1971 at 31-0.

Joe Frazier, the 1964 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist from Tokyo, had filled the vacuum. He was 26-0 and held the championship. The two men had 57 professional fights between them and had won every one. Frazier supported American involvement in Vietnam; Ali had become the face of opposition to it, and the fight split the country along those lines and along the lines of the civil rights movement.

Each fighter was guaranteed $2.5 million, a record purse. The Garden held 20,455 people and drew a $1.5 million gate, ringside seats sold for a record $150, and closed-circuit sales reached 2.59 million tickets worldwide. Frank Sinatra, unable to buy a ringside seat, worked the fight as a photographer for Life magazine. Burt Lancaster called it as a color commentator with no sports broadcasting experience. LeRoy Neiman sketched at ringside.

The left hook in the 15th

Ali controlled the early rounds with his footwork and jab. Frazier kept walking forward, hunting for the left hook, and the pace and his body work gradually exposed Ali's long layoff. By the late rounds it was clear that only a knockout could save the night for Ali.

In the 15th, Frazier landed a left hook that put Ali on the canvas. Ali got up at the count of four and finished the fight, but all three officials scored it for Frazier: 8-6-1, 9-6 and 11-4.

Neither man walked away whole. Ali went to a hospital right after the fight to make sure his badly swollen right jaw was not broken, and Frazier spent time in the hospital in the following month. Ali would win the next two meetings, at the Garden in 1974 and in Manila in 1975.

The gloves nobody claimed

The fight contracts assigned ownership of both fighters' gloves to Jerry Perenchio, the Los Angeles talent agent who backed the bout. He never took them. Dundee, Ali's trainer and cornerman, cut the gloves off Ali's hands after the decision, and his wife and son carried them home from New York the next day. In a letter of provenance he wrote that they had been in his family's possession from that moment and that he had labeled them inside the laces.

Because the contract named Perenchio, some collectors were wary when the pair surfaced. In 2012 a boxing memorabilia specialist wrote to Perenchio, who confirmed he had never collected them: 'I wish I had been smart enough to claim them myself but I goofed.' That correspondence traveled with the gloves.

Dundee died in Tampa on February 1, 2012. The gloves were sold at auction on July 31, 2014, for $388,375, to collector Jeff Rosenberg. That same year, the gloves Ali wore to take the title from Sonny Liston in 1964, also from Dundee's collection, had brought $836,500.

Ali died on June 3, 2016. That summer Rosenberg consigned the Frazier gloves again, with talk of a seven-figure price. They failed to reach their reserve in a live sale in Atlantic City, moved to an online auction, and closed in August 2016 at $606,375 to an undisclosed buyer. Rosenberg called owning them an honor and 'a connection to the greatest fight.' A jock strap believed worn by Frazier in the same fight sold for $10,200.

How to know this pair

The gloves are Everlast, with the wear of 15 hard rounds. Inside the sweat-stained lining, under the laces, are the notations 'MA 1, AD, Ali-Frazier 3-8-71 MSG': Ali's initials, Dundee's, and the date and venue. Stamping from the New York State Athletic Commission is joined by the date and initials of the commission inspector who checked the gloves before the bout. A later black marker signature from Dundee completes the writing.

The paperwork is part of the object: Dundee's signed letter of provenance, letters of opinion from authenticators on that letter, and the 2012 exchange in which Perenchio conceded he had never taken possession.

The loss that made the legend

The defeat fed a story that Ali was finished and should have stayed in exile. Instead it set up the comeback that defined him: the upset of George Foreman in Zaire in 1974 and the two wins over Frazier. Three months after the Garden, on June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned his draft conviction in Clay v. United States.

Ali finished 56-5 with 37 knockouts. Frazier lost his title to Foreman in Kingston, Jamaica, on January 22, 1973, finished 32-4-1 and died in Philadelphia on November 7, 2011. The gloves are the physical record of the one night Frazier had the better of him.

The numbers

Fight

Ali vs. Frazier I, March 8, 1971, Madison Square Garden, 15 rounds

Result

Frazier by unanimous decision, 8-6-1, 9-6, 11-4

Knockdown

Frazier left hook, round 15; Ali up at four

Records entering

Ali 31-0; Frazier 26-0 and champion

Purses

$2.5 million each

Crowd

20,455 at the Garden; $1.5 million gate; 2.59 million closed-circuit tickets

Ali career

56-5, 37 KOs

Timeline

1. Jan 17, 1942

   Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. is born in Louisville, Kentucky.

2. Feb 25, 1964

   Clay beats Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion at 22.

3. Apr 28, 1967

   Ali refuses induction into the Army in Houston; he is convicted of draft evasion on June 20.

4. Oct 26, 1970

   Ali returns from exile and beats Jerry Quarry.

5. Mar 8, 1971

   Ali wears these gloves at Madison Square Garden and loses a unanimous decision to Joe Frazier after a 15th-round knockdown.

6. Mar 9, 1971

   Dundee's wife and son bring the gloves home from New York, per Dundee's letter.

7. Jun 28, 1971

   The Supreme Court unanimously overturns Ali's conviction.

8. 2012

   Promoter Jerry Perenchio confirms in writing that he never claimed the gloves.

9. Feb 1, 2012

   Angelo Dundee dies in Tampa.

10. Jul 31, 2014

    The gloves sell at auction for $388,375, their first public sale.

11. Jun 3, 2016

    Ali dies in Scottsdale, Arizona.

12. Aug 2016

    After failing to meet reserve in a live sale in Atlantic City, the gloves sell in an online auction for $606,375.

The world in 1971

• Jan 31, 1971

  Apollo 14 lifts off with Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell.

• Mar 1, 1971

  A bomb explodes in the U.S. Capitol; the Weather Underground claims responsibility.

• Mar 29, 1971

  Lt. William Calley is convicted for the My Lai massacre.

• Jun 13, 1971

  The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers.

• Jul 5, 1971

  The 26th Amendment lowers the voting age to 18.

• Aug 15, 1971

  President Nixon ends dollar-to-gold conversion.

• Oct 1, 1971

  Walt Disney World opens in Orlando.

• Nov 15, 1971

  Intel releases the 4004, the first commercially available microprocessor.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Muhammad Ali 'Fight of the Century' Gloves is number 84 of 100 in the memorabilia entries of the FLOAT 100. 100 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (82 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The fight contracts gave the gloves to promoter Jerry Perenchio, who later wrote that he 'goofed' by never claiming them.
• Frank Sinatra could not get a ringside seat, so he worked the fight as a Life magazine photographer.
• Burt Lancaster called the fight on the broadcast despite never having done sports commentary.
• Between them, Ali and Frazier had 57 pro fights and 57 wins going in.
• Ali went to the hospital after the fight to make sure his jaw was not broken.
• Inside each glove, Dundee wrote 'MA 1, AD, Ali-Frazier 3-8-71 MSG.'
• Both men's gloves from the same fight were sold separately, and a jock strap believed worn by Frazier brought $10,200.