[Brent G.]

Originally Posted by Writehooks

While baseball cards will no doubt continue to be our most coveted collectibles, I strongly believe vintage boxing ephemera will see a significant upsurge over the next five years. Even though the sweet science is no more than an adjunct to North America’s “big four” mainstream sports in the 21st century, its colorful history and worldwide appeal make it special. In addition, big time professional boxing has doggedly preserved what I consider to be the two most enduring “I was there” artifacts in the realm of sports collecting: printed programs and commemorative tickets.

Due to prohibitive production costs, dwindling ad revenue and pressure from environmental groups, the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB have pretty much thrown in the towel on paper keepsakes of a trip to the stadium or ballpark, instead providing a constant flow of digital data that can be accessed on smart phones. Fortunately, boxing hasn’t followed suit. World championship fights, particularly in the heavyweight division, continue to feature some of the most gorgeous programs and tickets ever produced – a tradition that dates back to John L. Sullivan vs Gentleman Jim Corbett in 1892. You could do a lot worse than invest that $10K in programs or tickets from fights involving Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Roninson or Muhammad Ali, or even stepping into the “modern” era of Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather.

I respectfully disagree — I think boxing is probably the worst segment of the hobby to drop $10k. The biggest fight of the past year was the Paul/Tyson farce. We’re 20 years removed from it even being the most relevant combat sport. There are some incredible boxing cards out there — especially Jack Johnson and Ali. It’s a pretty inexpensive segment, but that’s because demand is getting smaller by the day. Tyson is the only boxer out there making money selling autographs — and he peaked in 1990. I love ‘60s-‘90s boxing history, but I’m 51 and there aren’t many younger than me that feel that way.