Muhammad Ali’s ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ Belt Auctioned for Over 6 Million!

In the history of boxing, many nights of glory have gone down in history, some simply because of victory or defeat and others because a historical and cultural component has been added to the sporting as well which only elevates its category. One of these nights took place on October 30, 1974 at the May 20 Stadium in Kinshasain the capital now known as the capital of Democratic Republic of the World.

That night the wheel of the world stopped and all eyes, both from admirers of the noble art of the ring and from all the curious, were directed to the edge of the ring. There are 20 stadiumsfilled with 60,000 spectators sitting in their seats, which almost collapsed Muhammad Ali at 2 minutes and 58 seconds of the eighth round he landed a left followed by a right and the champion, george foremanslowly falling to the canvas under the referee’s watch Zack Clayton.

Foreman didn’t get up and Ali, with Foreman’s first loss in his entire professional career, satiated the appetite of thousands of throats hoarse under the dark lights of Africa, screaming at the top of their lungs. ‘Ali, bomaye’, (‘Ali, kill him). Ali regained the world heavyweight title and wore the belt around his waist that made him famous, after a fight that became known as ‘Rumble in the jungle’.

Cult object in a traveling exhibition

Now, 50 years later, this precious belt, a jewel that should be in a museum, has been sold at auction in Dallas for $6.18 million. Its lucky owner is none other than the Indianapolis Colts football owner Jim Irsay.

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“I am proud to have this belt in my hands and now it is ready to be presented at the show on August 2 at Navy Pier in Chicago and on September 9 in Indiana,” Irsay said.

And Irsay has ‘sponsored’ a traveling exhibition bringing together some of the great gems of rock music, US history and pop culture, which is now the belt of Muhammad Ali ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, that auction price was among the highest ever paid for a sporting item.