Tagged: Muhammad Ali

Family says Muhammad Ali watched Super Bowl, not on verge of death

Yahoo! Sports

The family of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali has disputed a report in a London newspaper that the flamboyant ex-heavyweight champion is near death. Instead, family spokesman Bob Gunnell said Ali was in his Phoenix area home watching the Super Bowl wearing Baltimore Ravens’ gear.

Ali’s daughter, May May, later confirmed to the Associated Press that the boxing great was watching the game.

The Sun newspaper in London quoted Ali’s brother, Rahman, saying that his brother’s death is imminent.

The 71-year-old Ali, who was famously stripped of the heavyweight title in 1967 for refusing induction into the military service, has had Parkinson’s disease since 1984. He appears frail, but has made several public appearances over the last several months.

Full story: Yahoo! Sports

Related story: Muhammad Ali near death: brother

Two pair of Muhammad Ali fight-worn gloves fetch $771,696

Yahoo! Sports

Two pair of Muhammad Ali fight-worn boxing gloves, one of which he wore in a 1964 fight against Sonny Liston and the other in a 1971 loss to Joe Frazier, went for a combined $771,696 in an auction that closed on Friday.

The estate of Angelo Dundee, the legendary ex-heavyweight champion’s trainer, sold the gloves and other memorabilia. Part of the proceeds of the memorabilia sale, which went for more than $1.3 million, will benefit the Muhammad Ali Foundation. Another portion will go for the care of Dundee’s daughter, Terri, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis.

The two most popular items in the sale, handled by SCP Auctions, were the gloves. Ali, fighting for the heavyweight title against Liston under his birth name Cassius Clay, wore a pair of Frager gloves to stop Liston after seven rounds in Miami.

He wore Everlast gloves in his March 8, 1971, match in New York’s Madison Square Garden against Frazier, which remains the most significant bout in boxing history. Frazier won that bout, punctuating his victory by knocking Ali down in the 15th and final round.

Full story: Yahoo! Sports