Muhammad Ali’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ belt sells for $6.1M
Muhammad Ali’s championship belt from his 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight title fight was sold at auction on Sunday for $6.18 million. The winner of the heated competition for the belt was Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, according to Heritage Auctions in Dallas. In a tweet Sunday, Irsay confirmed he acquired the belt for his collection of rock music, American history and pop culture memorabilia that is currently touring the country.
The belt will be displayed on Aug. 2 at Chicago’s Navy Pier and on Sept. 9 in Indianapolis.
“After several hours of watching two bidders go back and forth over this belt, this proved to be a battle worthy of the Rumble itself,” Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions, said in a statement.
The 1974 fight was one of boxing’s most memorable moments. Ali stopped the fearsome George Foreman to recapture the heavyweight title in the African nation of Zaire. Ali won the fight in a knockout in the eighth round. author and former Key West resident Ernest Hemingway.
Auvil triumphed Saturday night over 124 other contestants for the title in the annual Hemingway Look-alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the Key West establishment where the author was a regular patron during his decade-long residence on the island in the 1930s.
The look-a-like contest is a highlight of Key West’s annual Hemingway Days celebration, which ended Sunday.
Auvil said he shares Hemingway’s passion for fishing, has written some fiction and would like to do more writing. “Every man wants to write like Hemingway,” said Auvil, who lives in Dade City, Florida, northeast of Tampa.