Ali: A celebration of Panini stickers on what would have been his 80th birthday

A look at this important part of my boxing collection

Jan 17, 2022

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Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest,” was born on Jan. 17, 1942 and Monday (today), would have been his 80th birthday. Perhaps more than any athlete ever, Ali, an Olympic gold medalist and the first three-time heavyweight champion, transcended boxing to become a worldwide icon.

I have collected boxing memorabilia, mainly posters, programs and cards, for decades, and Ali has a big place in that collection.

His image has adorned numerous cards and stickers through the years but the most consistent of his appearances came in the annual Panini multi-sport sticker sets from Italy. Between 1966 and 1980, he appeared on nine different stickers, including one sticker he shared with his great rival Joe Frazier. Many legendary boxers appeared in Panini sticker sets from the 1960s through the 1980s, including rookies of legends such as George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson.

The stickers, which are a bit smaller than a traditional sports card, were sold in packets, similar to a pack of cards, and were made for kids to peel them from their backing and then place them in an album on a specific page that contained information about the athlete.

So, not only were the vast majority of them peeled away from their backing but they were also manufactured on extremely thin paper, which makes unpeeled stickers extraordinarily condition sensitive. Mint stickers are quite scarce and, depending on the athlete and year, can sell for thousands of dollars apiece.

Of the nine stickers on which Ali appears, Panini unfortunately referred to him by his birth name of Cassius Clay on all of them, even though he had changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964, days after knocking out Sonny Liston to win the heavyweight championship for the first time.

I have spent many years and more money than I care to discuss painstakingly assembling my group of Ali Panini stickers. They are one of the key parts of my vast boxing collection, which includes eight of the nine stickers. Each has been graded by PSA, the leading grading company, to be a “9” or “mint” on its 1 to 10 scale.

I am just missing one, the blue-bordered 1971 sticker. If you are out there and have one of the three examples graded PSA 9 (out of a total of 76 Ali stickers from 1971 that have been graded by PSA, and there are no 10s) and you want to sell or trade, leave a comment at the end of this story or hit me up on social media!! Hey, even if you have a PSA 8, I’m interested!

Now, in honor of what would have been Ali’s 80th birthday, here is a look at my Ali Panini sticker collection, with the total number of each sticker graded by PSA and the number of examples assessed to be a 9 and 10. These populations, of course, could grow if and when more are sent to PSA to be graded but given their age and scarcity it is unlikely the populations will grow in any meaningful way.

1966

Many consider the 1966 Panini sticker to be Ali’s rookie as it was the first widely distributed card/sticker that came in a pack produced by a major company. It features him in commonly used image from the 1960 Olympics and is one of his most sought-after issues.

Total graded by PSA: 89 / 9 at 9 / 0 at 10