«#41 681,60»

On 25 May 1965, in Lewiston, Maine, Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in the first round of their rematch. Neil Leifer, shooting ringside for Sports Illustrated, caught Ali standing over the fallen Liston, and the frame became one of the most reproduced sports photographs there is. In 1967 Ali refused induction into the US Army and lost his boxing title. That photograph is where this Muhammad Ali painting begins.

I kept Leifer's composition and emptied the boxers. The standing figure is a white and grey mannequin with a black head, a green tick and a red cross where the eyes should be, and red gloves. Slabs of black slice through the body like a corrupted file. On the chest, in thin grey letters, are "Muhammad Ali" and "#41 681,60". The loser is a pale shape sprawled across the bottom, his black head marked with two red crosses and a red glove lying beside it.

Behind the ropes the crowd is painted in murky greens with red bars across their eyes. Some hold signs: "I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY", "Buy Bitcoin", a hand-drawn heart. A bald man in round glasses and a man in an orange shirt point phones at the ring.

The army sign borrows James Montgomery Flagg's Uncle Sam poster of 1917. Warhol put Ali in his Athletes portfolio of 1977, treating a fighter like a celebrity brand. The cyan, red and blue blocks on the left remind me of Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie from 1943.

To me the number on the chest reads like a price tag or an edition number, the kind of figure that sticks to a person once they become a brand. I like that in this Muhammad Ali painting the crowd films and nobody watches. As an original pop art painting it works as statement wall art, and as contemporary pop art it asks who owns a moment.

This original is still available and ready to ship. Most of my other originals are already in private collections, and I paint new ones to order in any size. To ask about this one, message me on Instagram or by email. I also make this scene as a hand-finished lithograph.