"THREE TIMES WORLD HEAVY WEIGHT BOXING CHAMPION OF THE WORLD AND THE GREATEST BOXER OF ALL TIMES, AFTER ME THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER": SCARCE 1988 AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY MUHAMMAD ALI WITH HIS SKETCHES OF A BOXING RING AND A HEART
ALI, Muhammad. Autograph letter signed. [Berrien Springs, Michigan], July 26, 1988. Original tan card stock (measures 8-3/4 by 11-3/4 inches), black felt pen on the recto. $4500.
Scarce July 1988 autograph letter signed by the legendary Muhammad Ali with his original sketches of a boxing ring and a heart: "To Frank from Muhammad Ali, Three times World Heavy Weight Boxing Champion of the World and the Greatest Boxer of all times, After me there will never be another [sketch of boxing ring] P.S. Service for God is the rent I pay for my room in the Hereafter [sketch of a heart with eight radiating lines]."
Named one of Time magazine's "20 Most Influential People of All Time," Muhammad Ali has, in many ways, "become the best-known person on the planet—- and… the most beloved… a global icon of courage, grace and good will…. 'I am the greatest!' Muhammad Ali often declared—and eventually, most people came around to share his view" (Time). This wonderful 1988 autograph letter, penned entirely by Ali in black felt pen on card stock with two original sketches, contains Ali's classic quote proclaiming himself "the Greatest Boxer of all times." His letter reads in full: "To Frank from Muhammad Ali, Three times World Heavy Weight [sic] Boxing Champion of the World and the Greatest Boxer of all times, After me there will never be another [sketch of boxing ring] P.S. Service for God is the rent I pay for my room in the Hereafter [sketch of a heart with eight radiating lines]." Accompanied by laid-in color facsimile of envelope addressed by Ali to: "Frank Sparti, 8200 Aiken Circle, Dallas, GA 30132," with stamps postmarked "Benton Har[bor], July 26 P.M. 1988." Postmarked shortly after an interview appeared in the July 17, 1988 New York Times, in which screenwriter Peter Tauber wrote of meeting with Ali "in the family room at his farm in Berrien Springs, Mich., an 88-acre tract once owned by Al Capone." Berrien Springs is close to Benton Harbor, Michigan.
A fine signed letter.