One man's collection of Muhammad Ali memorabilia is the centerpiece for an upcoming auction from Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.
Collector Troy Kinunen told NBC 5 that he was a baseball card collector whose life changed when he met Ali as a child.
"I had met other athletes … but it was sort of a non-personal moment," Kinunen recalled. "When I met Muhammad Ali, he stopped, let me come behind the table, put his arm around me, we took pictures, he did his Ali shuffle, told stories, it was a magical experience."
Some of the items in Kinunen's collection include an iconic red robe worn when he battled Joe Frazier in the "Fight of the Century" and a heavyweight championship belt won when he defeated George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle."
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Kinunen has been building his 1,600-piece collection for more than three decades but said it was time to share it with others.
"This is a really, really important collection and me keeping it, me storing it in my own house it's not fair to the world. He was the people's champion and loved by millions," Kinunen said. "I came to the conclusion that I really wasn't worthy of keeping the collection."
Kinunen said the most unique item in his collection is Ali's Muslim prayer cap, which has a reserve bid of $250,000.
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Items included in the auction are the 1970's Muhammad Ali WBC Heavyweight Championship belt earned in Ali's victory over George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle." As of this writing, the bid for the belt was at $125,000. The red robe worn during his bout with Joe Frazier has a current bid of $105,000.
"The one way I collected a lot of stuff was putting ads out in newspapers. I advertised a lot in the Louisville area and was very successful at getting people that had known him, went to school with him, or sparred with him, they call me up and say, 'I got his gloves. I got his trunks. I got an autograph,'" Kinunen said. "That's how I got a lot of really good stuff. I got it right from the source."
The auction takes place July 21-23.
