Can I please get an opinion on this Muhammad Ali autograph on boxing trunks

[yanksfan1976]

A buddy of mine from work has this framed pair of boxing trunks autographed by Muhammad Ali.
He says his dad acquired it years ago, he wanted to see if I could post this on here to see what some experts might have to say. I told him he could send it in to get looked at but he didn't want to take it out of the display frame until he has a preliminary look at it first. Any thoughts on the auto?
Thanks ahead of time
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz247/isoltero/ALI1_zps768bce03.jpg
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz247/isoltero/ALI2_zpsea7561e7.jpg
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz247/isoltero/ALI3_zpsd4552a71.jpg
http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/zz247/isoltero/ALI4_zps8444bf79.jpg

[yanksfan1976]

Anybody out there have any info or experience with Ali autos?
Please help

[thenavarro]

Try board member travrosty. He appears to know some boxing autographs so he might be able to help you.

MIke

[yanksfan1976]

I will do, Thank you.

[shelly]

I sent the pictures to a person I respect in the field of Ali.
Here are his comments.
Wow, not sure. That's a tough one. I would lean toward bad. A little weird.

That is the best I could do.
Travis, up to you.

[travrosty]

i gave it an inconclusive at first glance, needs more study. i dont want to take a chance at being wrong without really studying it against exemplars for a good while. since he has so many styles of his name, there are a lot of exemplars to check.

it's too important to get wrong by just looking at it for a minute. it kind of has a genuine style of penmanship to it, so not obviously ridiculously bad, but to be good it has to pass the big test, and the big test takes time to make sure to get it right.

not all autographs are instantly good or bad, some are, but the ones that aren't cant be rushed. ali is tricky sometimes especially with thicker sharpies compared to ball point ink, sharpie signatures hide detail. the slant looks strange to me but i cant be sure ali didnt sign that way. I have learned that if one can't give 100% opinion either way, then a quick opinion really does a disservice, so i defer on this one for the time being. it really doesnt matter what i think if i am leaning one way or another. i have to be sure or else its just an opinion with little to really back it up and to back it up takes time sometimes.

[jcmtiger]

This is real, signed in person at Dearborn Michigan show in 1985. White spots are camera flash

Joe

[toyman55]

It looks like it could be real and I would guess in the early 90's
here is a link I use; http://www.aliautos.net/examples.html

[Sean1125]

It looks like it could be real and I would guess in the early 90's
here is a link I use; http://www.aliautos.net/examples.html

I don't mean this to be a stab at you, but with the threads you have posting do you really believe you should be giving an opinion on this autograph? Some of the experts couldn't even answer yet you did...

[toyman55]

I only said "It could be", then pointed him to a site that could help. Thanks for your positive input.