Angelo Dundee Collection Including Gloves from Big Ali Fights Consigned to Auction

Boxing memorabilia from the estate of the man who trained both Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard will be sold by SCP Auctions this fall.

The Angelo Dundee Estate Collection of boxing memorabilia, including sets of gloves from two of Ali’s most memorable fights, will be included in the company’s November 2012 online auction.

In a Hall of Fame career that began in 1952, Dundee gained acclaim as a brilliant cornerman, whether healing cuts, inspiring his fighters to battle on when they seemed to be reeling, or adjusting strategy between rounds to counter an opponent’s style.  In addition to Ali and Leonard, Dundee trained 15 other world champions.

The collection features hundreds of items spanning the breadth of Dundee’s extraordinary career and includes Ali’s (then Cassius Clay) gloves from his February 25, 1964 bout against Sonny Liston and his gloves from his March 8, 1971 bout against Joe Frazier (Ali-Frazier I). These two pairs of gloves represent Ali’s two most legendary fights.  SCP calls them “the most valuable and historically significant boxing artifacts in the world.”

“These gloves represent boxing’s crown jewels,” said Dan Imler, SCP Auctions managing director, “and rank among the most significant sports memorabilia artifacts ever offered publicly.”

Clay’s 1964 bout with Liston was among the most anticipated, watched and controversial fights in sports history. The brash 22-year-old Clay entered the fight as a big underdog against the seemingly unstoppable Liston. Clay’s improbable sixth-round TKO brought him his first heavyweight title. His jubilant and defiant celebration whereby Clay repeatedly taunts ringside detractors with his famous proclamations “I am the greatest!” and “I shook up the world!” has been rebroadcast countless times during the ensuing decades.

Seven years later, Ali met Joe Frazier in the first of a trilogy of battles that may be the best series of contests between two combatants in the history of boxing. Ali, then 31-0, had been stripped of his heavyweight titles when, as Cassius Clay, he refused to be inducted into the military after being drafted for the Vietnam War.

Frazier, at 26-0, had captured the title of undisputed heavyweight champion in 1970 with a technical knockout of Jimmy Ellis.

Billed as “The Fight of The Century,” it was a brutal 15-round battle that ended with a decision in favor of Frazier. The epic struggle is considered by many as the greatest boxing match of all time. It was a practice of Dundee’s to mark Ali’s fight gloves with identifying notations on the interior either just prior to or after each fight to record their provenance. His period notations and signature appear inside each glove.

Jim Dundee, the late Angelo’s son, plans to donate a portion of the proceeds from the November 2012 sale to the Muhammad Ali Foundation.

“Through the sale of this collection, I look forward to fulfilling my father’s wish that necessary medical care be provided and funded for my sister, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis,” said Dundee.

Other significant artifacts from the collection include:

•           Cassius Clay’s fight-worn gloves from 1962 bout vs. Johnny Logan

•           Muhammad Ali’s fight-worn gloves from 1966 bout vs. George Chuvalo

•           Muhammad Ali’s fight-worn gloves from 1970 bout vs. Oscar Bonavena

•           Muhammad Ali’s fight-worn gloves from 1972 bout vs. Floyd Patterson

•           Muhammad Ali’s c.1964 5th Street Gym training-worn robe

•           Muhammad Ali’s Everlast white satin fight-worn robe

•           Angelo Dundee’s 1958 boxing trainer’s license

•           Muhammad Ali’s 1963 boxing license

•           Muhammad Ali’s mouthpiece molds and fight-worn mouthpiece from last fight vs. Trevor Berbick

•           Sugar Ray Leonard’s fight-worn gloves from 1980 Leonard vs. Roberto Durán II (no más) bout

For more information on how to participate in November’s auction, visit www.scpauctions.com.

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About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for over 35 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]