Hundreds of items related to the life and career of one of the world’s greatest athletes, Muhammad Ali, are up for auction. Ali’s former attorney, Paul Jancha, has been selling more than 300 signed items, including memorabilia, trading cards, boxing gloves, rare items, and unseen photos collected over years of friendship and business partnership.
A Cassius Clay-signed boxing ticket from his 1970 heavyweight championship bout with Oscar Bonavena is considered one of the most valuable items. Ali changed his name years earlier.
The online auction is coordinated by AuctionMonthly.com, a Northern California-based auction and consignment company that specializes in sports antiquities. Jancha met Ali around 1990 in Berrien County, Michigan, where Ali lived after retiring from boxing.
Personal photos of Ali give a glimpse into his post-boxing career and the simplicity of his civilian life, many of which were taken at Jancha’s home with his family. “Muhammad would often come to my home to spend time with me and my wife and my son,” Jancha wrote. “I would take Muhammad Ali to the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph, where we would go all through the entire four floors of the Berrien County court building so that he could greet people and demonstrate his magic tricks.”
Ali had a passion for magic and even hired a personal magician to teach him sleight-of-hand tricks and illusions.
Jancha represented Ali in various business dealings, including a deal with the NFL to wear the league’s clothing, attend Super Bowl events, and meet some of football’s biggest stars. Among the items available at auction are signed NFL footballs and photos of Ali wearing NFL gear.
Jancha was also closely involved when Ali traveled to Iraq in 1990 against the wishes of then-president George H.W. Bush and helped free 15 hostages held by the Hussein regime. Ali died on June 3, 2016, and Jancha and his wife attended his funeral and a private event afterward.
“I truly believe that the opportunity I had to meet Muhammad Ali and become his dear friend was a gift from God,” Jancha wrote. “Now when I think of Muhammad Ali, I think of God, and when I think of God, I think of Muhammad Ali.”
The online auction began on Sunday, and items will remain open for bidding for one week. Multiple duplicate items will be auctioned at a later date.
