Onsite posters are the rarest Cassius Clay paper items to find. There is quite a challenge in the cataloging of known examples. Many of his early fights there are no known examples. The accompanying image helps us verify the existence of two vintage Cassius Clay poster.
Poster 1: April 23rd, 1962, Cassius Clay vs. George Logan
Poster shows portrait shots of Cassius Clay and George Logan. The poster was printed with the text, “BOXING: SPORTS ARENA, CLAY VS. LOGAN, APRIL 23“ There is only one known example of this poster in the hobby and this image verifies both its size and design.
The second poster is quite interesting. Examination of Clay’s ring record reveals he never fought an opponent named Mountain Rivera, yet, the poster is clearly shown hanging on the wall. Further research finds that during the same year, 1962, a boxing movie was made which Cassius Clay played a small role.
Poster 2: Undated, Cassius Clay vs. Mountain Rivera
The film is described in Wikipedia as:
“Requiem for a Heavyweight was originally a 1956 American teleplay written by Rod Serling and produced for the live television show Playhouse 90 on 11 October 1956, then was filmed as a movie starring Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, and Mickey Rooney in 1962. The teleplay won a Peabody Award, the first given to an individual script, and helped establish Serling’s reputation. The broadcast was directed by Ralph Nelson and is generally considered one of the most famous examples of live television drama in the United States, as well as being Serling’s personal favorite of his own work.
Ralph Nelson also directed a movie version in 1962 with Anthony Quinn in the role originated by Jack Palance, and Jackie Gleason and Mickey Rooney in the parts portrayed on television by Keenan Wynn and his father Ed Wynn. Muhammad Ali, then still using his birth name, Cassius Clay, appears as Quinn’s opponent in a boxing match at the beginning of the movie, a memorable sequence filmed with the camera providing Quinn’s point of view as the unstoppable Clay rapidly punches directly at the movie audience.”
The poster was used as a prop in the movie. If you look close, you can see that Mountain Rivera is actually Anthony Quinn. The location appears to be from Dundee’s 5th Street Gym. Although the photo is undated, it was most likely taken shortly after 1962 while Clay continued to train at the gym. The movie poster remained on the wall. No surviving examples of the movie poster “Clay vs Rivera” are known.
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