The gloves worn by Muhammad Ali in his first heavyweight championship fight are now up for auction, according to ESPN.
Then known as Ali as Cassius Clay, Ali wore the gloves in his bout against Sonny Liston on Feb. 25, 1964. The gloves were originally purchased in a 2012 auction from the estate sale of Ali's former trainer Angelo Dundee for $385,848.
"Baseball has Babe Ruth, basketball has Jordan and boxing has Ali," said Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage, the auction house that will sell the gloves to the highest bidder on Feb. 22. "This a great piece of history."
Ivy declined to elaborate on why the original purchaser was known auctioning the gloves, but indicated he believed the collector will get a return on his investment after buying them a little more than a year ago. Bidding on the gloves has already reached $170,000 and Ivy said he expects to get up to get in the neighborhood of three times that amount.
ESPN reports the record for the highest price paid for a pair of Ali gloves was $1.1 million, the price UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta paid for a pair gloves worn by Ali in a 1965 title fight against Floyd Patterson. Fertitta, who won the gloves at Ali's 70th birthday gala in Feb. 2012, also received one of the original posters used to promote the fight.
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