The shorts Muhammad Ali wore during his famous “Thrilla in Manila” fight in 1975 are expected to break auction records at Sotheby’s in New York next week.
The white satin Everlast briefs that Ali signed with a black Sharpie pen An online auction attracted bids totaling $3.8 million (£3 million). which ends on April 12th. This puts the chests on track to become the most expensive piece of Ali memorabilia sold at auction. Sotheby’s experts expected bids to rise to as much as $6 million.
The fight against “Smokin’” Joe Frazier in 49°C heat is widely considered one of the most brutal fights in professional boxing history. Ali, who described himself as “the greatest”, won the grueling fight at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in the Philippine capital after the referee stopped the fight after 42 minutes in the 14th round. It was the third and final fight between the boxing legends. Ali defeated Frazier 2-1 and retained his three heavyweight championship belts.
The briefs, which are all white except for the black trim on the waistband and the black piping on the side of each leg, are inscribed by Ali’s assistant coach and cornerman Drew “Bundini” Brown and signed by Ali in black Sharpie. The inscription on the right leg reads “Ali-Frazier Fight/Trilla in Manila” and on the left leg “Pres F Marcos/Manila, Philippines/1. Oct. 1975.”
The first fight between Ali and Frazier in 1971 was dubbed the “Fight of the Century,” with Frazier emerging victorious after 15 rounds.
Ali was banned from sports for three years because he refused to be drafted into the military during the Vietnam War.
Ahead of the fight in Manila, Ali, who had nicknamed Frazier “the gorilla,” said, “It’ll be a killa, a thrilla and a chilla if I get the gorilla in Manila,” while punching a gorilla dummy. He explained that this was part of his pre-fight strategy: “I like to make a man angry because when a man is angry he wants you so bad he can’t think, so I like to make a man angry .”
Dave Wolf, a member of Frazier’s team in Manila, said: “With all the remaining anger that Joe had about what had happened before the first fight, what had happened before and during the second fight and after those fights, “It was Joe who was willing to put his life on the line and… he did.”
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In the end, it wasn’t Ali’s punches that led to the victory, but rather Frazier’s inability to continue. With exhaustion taking its toll, Frazier decided to concede defeat by technical knockout after a corner.
The shorts are the star lot of Sotheby’s Sports Week auction, which also includes Michael Jordan’s game-worn Air Jordan 11s from the 1996 NBA Finals. Two former Seattle Supersonics ball boys each received one of the sneakers, which are expected to sell as a pair for $200,000 to $400,000. There’s also Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers jersey from Game 1 of the 2009 NBA Finals, which is expected to fetch $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984 and died in 2016 at the age of 74.
