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Muhammad Ali Fight Poster (1965)

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The tall wood-type fight bill that screamed from a barbershop window before Ali met Sonny Liston in Lewiston, May 1965. Slammed-together condensed gothic and slab caps, hammered in blood-red and dead-black ink on cheap white poster stock. Two names stacked in a giant vertical collision, "15 ROUNDS" barked underneath, a starburst yelling the ticket price. Nothing whispers — type does the fighting, red throws the punches, black holds the line.

Learn more about the Muhammad Ali Fight Poster (1965) style

  • OriginUnited States — Nashville letterpress shops, Baltimore poster houses
  • Period1960s American boxing print culture (peak: Ali–Liston rematch, 25 May 1965); rooted in 19th-c. wood-type broadsides
  • DesignerNeil Leifer · Herb Scharfman · Hatch Show Print · Globe Poster Printing Corp.
  • MovementsAmerican wood-type broadside · letterpress fight posters · mid-century sports advertising

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