Muhammad Ali’s world champion belt sold at auction for $6.18 million

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s 1974 world title belt has been auctioned off for over six million dollars. Ali won the heavyweight title against George Foreman at the famous “Rumble in the Jungle”.

A world champion belt of boxing legend Muhammad Ali has been auctioned off for 6.18 million dollars (6.05 million euros). The new owner of the belt, which Ali received for his victory in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” against George Foreman in 1974, is the owner of the NFL team Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay. He is “proud to be the custodian” of the memento, Irsay wrote on the short message service Twitter on Sunday.

Irsay, who is known as a collector, hinted the belt could be on display at an exhibition of his collection in Chicago in August. The price Ali’s world champion belt fetched at an auction held by Heritage Auctions is one of the highest ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia, according to the website Sports Collectors Daily.

Ali won the “Jungle Brawl” against the previously undefeated Foreman in Kinshasa, then the capital of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. With an eighth-round knockout, Ali secured the heavyweight boxing crown.