Boxing
Gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali will be displayed at the Obama Presidential Center
Published
3 months agoon
For years, a pair of red Everlast boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali sat quietly in a private office just outside the Oval Office.
The gloves, with the uncomplicated inscription “For Barack,” were more than just a memento of then-President Barack Obama. They reminded us of resilience.
Soon the audience will have the opportunity to see them up close.
Obama is loaning the gloves to the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, where they will be on display starting in June.
The announcement comes on the anniversary of one of the most iconic nights in sports history: February 25, 1964. Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, defeated Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion at the age of 22. The upset marked the emergence of a fighter who would change not only boxing, but also the cultural and political landscape surrounding it.
More than sixty years later, Ali’s gloves are a actual reminder of his influence.
For Michael Strautmanis, director of corporate affairs at the Obama Foundation, the gloves carry both personal and historical significance.
“Muhammad Ali is a personal person to everyone,” Strautmanis told ESPN. “I knew what this relationship symbolized was very personal to President Obama. So he kept it close to him.”
Ali’s victory in 1964 was just the beginning. He became known as “The Greatest” not only for his speed and precision, but also for risking the title and enduring public backlash for his beliefs.
“Muhammad Ali’s activism and his skills in the ring complement each other,” Strautmanis said. “He was willing to take punishment in and out of the ring for what he believed in.”
In a 2010 essay and again in a statement after Ali’s death in 2016, Obama reflected on this legacy.
“Muhammad Ali was the Greatest. Period,” Obama wrote. “…Of course, he wasn’t perfect. For all his magic in the ring, he could be reckless with his words, and as his faith evolved, he was full of contradictions. But his wonderful, contagious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than enemies – perhaps because we hoped to see something of ourselves in him.”
Although the gloves are not associated with a specific fight, Strautmanis describes them as deeply symbolic. For Obama, this example was essential at a time when, as he once joked, he had to “fight it out here in Washington.”
“There were times when I got beat up a little bit,” Obama joked while showing off his gloves in a video posted to Facebook on June 9, 2016, a few days after Ali’s death.
During his presidency, the gloves were displayed in a private room near the Oval Office, beneath an iconic photo of Ali towering over Liston – a photo taken during their May 25, 1965 rematch in Lewiston, Maine. Since Obama left the White House, they have remained in his Washington office, where Strautmanis has seen more of them in recent years.
“I never get tired of it,” he said. “I always stopped and stopped and thought, wow. I’m glad the world will have a chance to experience the same thing.”
Their fresh home at the Obama Presidential Center hints at the role sports will play on the museum campus. The center will feature a full-size NBA-compliant basketball court, as well as other sports-related exhibits and artifacts.
“If one person walks through this museum, sees these gloves and decides they want to be part of something bigger than themselves,” Strautmanis said, “then we have more than done our job.”
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Boxing
World champion will be stripped of his title if he refuses to fight David Benavidez next: ‘That’s it’
Published
2 hours agoon
June 4, 2026
David Benavidez won the WBA and WBO cruiserweight world titles with his last fight, and the “Mexican Monster” may add to his collection in the future after one of the world champions was ordered to fight him under the threat of being stripped of his belt.
Last month I moved up from light heavyweight and dethroned Gilberto Ramirez in sensational styleBenavidez now holds the WBA (regular) and WBC featherlight heavyweight world titles, as well as his recently won unified cruiserweight crown.
As a result, the 29-year-old must decide whether he should return to the featherlight heavyweight scene or stay in the cruiserweight division, where he put in arguably the best performance of his career last time out after tuning out his fight with Jai Opetaia.
However, Benavidez was also named the WBC cruiserweight mandatory challenger and was ordered to fight WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian, another who has been linked to a fight with Opetaia.
If Mikaelian refuses to defend the title against Benavidez, the WBC president announced in an interview for the WBC magazine that he would strip the Armenian of the belt. Boxing Scene.
“The WBC order is Mikaelian against Benavidez. That’s all. If he fights again, he will waive his obligations to the WBC.”
“[There is no deadline] at this time. I will be talking to different managers. This is the highest priority. I look forward to making sure that happens.”
If Mikaeilian decides to continue the fight with Opetaia and thus lose the world title, it can be expected that Polish-born interim champion Michał Cieślak will benefit. Either he will be elevated to full world champion and ordered to make his first defense against Benavidez, or he will be included in a vacant belt fight against the three-division world champion.
Boxing
Peter Fury claims Tyson used the wrong tactics against Usyk
Published
4 hours agoon
June 4, 2026
“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.
“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”
“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”
“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.
“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.
Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.
Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.
Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.
Boxing
The politician’s perfect 12-0 KO record remains the strangest in boxing
Published
5 hours agoon
June 4, 2026
Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.
On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.
Perfect record
Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.
Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.
The numbers are tough to understand even now.
Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.
But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.
By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.
Why fans never bought it
The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.
His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.
Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.
Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.
Boxing has seen this before
Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.
As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.
Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.
More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.
The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.
Still one of the strangest
Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.
Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.
More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.
That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.
About the author
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
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