TAINTED GLOVE
Boxing expert claims Muhammad Ali memento up for sale is a ringer
A BOXING glove to be auctioned as one worn by Muhammad Ali in his epic first clash with British fighter Henry Cooper is not the real deal, an expert claims.
The glove emerged for sale this week with a guide price of €580,000 and is said to have been worn by the American – then known as Cassius Clay – in his 1963 victory at Wembley Stadium.
Ali suffered a tear to one of his gloves in the bout, said to be the one for sale.
But Muhammad Ali Fan Club president Tyrone Monaghan, 58, says the location of a tear in the glove going under the hammer proves it is not the one from the Wembley fight.
Tyrone, who sparred in his own back garden with Ali once as a teen, told the Mirror: “That is not the original glove used in the fight. I have seen the originals and this is not one of them. I think it is a replacement glove.
“Also, the glove in the fight was split at the seam, not on the knuckle part as in this new one that has emerged for sale. Even Ali’s trainer, Angelo Dundee, said it was torn on the seam.”
The damage to Ali’s glove played a major part in the bout. After Cooper sent unbeaten Ali to the canvas at the end of the fourth round, Ali’s trainer
allegedly widened the split and tried to delay the fight by asking for it to be replaced. It would have given dazed Ali more time to recover from the rare knockdown – but the referee refused.
Ali still bounced back and opened a cut on Cooper’s eye in the fifth round, with the referee stopping the fight.
The provenance of the glove – to be auctioned by Stuart Bull on June 18, the 61st anniversary of the clash – had already been called into question.
Auction house Christie’s sold a pair, including what was said to be the same glove, for €43,900 in 2001.
And in 2016 a pair of gloves from the bout went on display at London’s O2
Arena as part of the I am the Greatest exhibition about Ali.
The seller has offered to prove authenticity with DNA tests but Tyrone said: “Even if they got
Ali’s DNA, I don’t think it would prove anything. He might have touched the replacement glove.” Mr Bull, of Chard, Somerset, told the Mirror yesterday: “I have no doubt at all we are selling the original split glove. I stand by my client.
“He spent his life’s work being the managing director of the glove factory. I can’t see that he would bring his company into disrepute like that.
“The glove came back to the manufacturer as it was split in the fight and caused controversy. If a Formula 1 tyre splits the likes of Pirelli want that sent to the factory for inspection. That’s exactly what happened with this glove.”
The glove is being kept at a secret location until the auction.
Ali and Cooper fought a second time in 1966 with Ali winning again.
Tyrone’s father, Paddy, was a bareknuckle boxing champion and became close friends with Ali after running his fan club’s British wing. Tyrone, who sparred with Ali aged 17 when he visited his home in Abingdon, Oxon, is writing a book about Paddy’s life and relationship with the icon, which he hopes to
publish soon.