A monumental piece of sports history has just found a new home. Muhammad Ali’s 1974 Rumble In The Jungle championship belt was auctioned on Sunday (July 24) for a hefty price. The Associated Press reports the purchase was made by Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Isray for a bid of $6.18 million.
According to the report, the auction was held through Heritage Auctions in Dallas. Isray spoke about the purchase on social media and shared the news. He also detailed how the championship belt was purchased to be a part of his history and pop culture memorabilia museum The Jim Irsay Collection.
“Just in time for the Aug. 2 show at Chicago’s Navy Pier (and Sept. 9 at Indy),” he tweeted. “Proud to be the steward!”
Heritage Auction described the bidding on the belt as highly competitive.
“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.
Ali proved victorious against George Foreman in the historic battle of two Boxing titans. A then 32-year-old Ali won by knockout against the 25-year-old reigning champion Foreman in the eighth round. Seven years before the bout, Ali lost his title when the government accused him of draft-dodging, and the boxing commission took away his license.