Rare As F**k Modern (post-1980) Boxing
 

Let's kick around some rarities from the modern era, besides the 'rainbow' of ultra-modern limited edition cards.

1991 Kayo Signature Series


Kayo boxes and packs advertise autographed cards. TCDB has images of the following:

014 Charles Williams
015 Meldrick Taylor
089 Donovan Ruddick
180 James Toney

It also lists 190 Carlos Palomino but the photo is of a regular card. Jeff Allender's checklist site also lists the Palomino but without a picture. Not sure if the card actually exists. Please post a pic if you have one. I have developed my doubts given that the others were all active at the time.

There is also an unsigned Pernell Whitaker known.

The year before I published my last guide, signed cards of Prince Charles Williams and James Toney both surfaced (at the time, 3 copies of Williams, 2 of Toney). I scooped up 2 of the Williams cards and one of the Toney cards at the time. I've since sold one of the Williams cards but still have a Williams and a Toney. I am not sure whether the Williams that sold on eBay last week is part of the recycled find.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ure%20Card.jpghttps://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...rd%20Toney.jpg

2016 The Greatest Boxing Ringwalk Songs


An interesting UK set icreated as a promotion of a CD compilation of music. The company selling the CDs, Split Records, advertised a free set of cards with online purchases, while supplies last. My guesstimate is that the print run was well south of 200 sets. As far as I can tell, PSA has never graded one. These were gobbled up fast and never seem to surface. Fantastic checklist of fighters at the time and even one of Brad Pitt as Mickey, the Gypsy champion bareknuckles boxer, in the Guy Richie film Snatch. Speaking of Gypsy fighters, the set also has the first card of Tyson Fury.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20Pacquiao.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...lks%20Fury.jpg

The tcdb.com/Checklist show the 190 Carlos Palomino signature card.

Wonder what i saw?

Any chance you have a checklist on the Ringwalk Songs set?

There is no existing checklist for the set?!?

I'd have to type one...

FYI, The Ringwalk set was a promotional give-a-way item distributed to 50 media outlets (radio stations, social media, websites, online stores). The outlets held drawings/contests to determine the winners. Most were UK-based businesses. Most were given two CD's, each with the card set, some only one. Traces of press releases of the the promotion can be found on the web or Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

I personally haven't seen any indication the set was initially available with an online purchase. (I had checked Wingwalk's website and the record label when the CD was first released, but perhaps I missed the offer, if there was one)

It is also noteable that the Ringwalk set was produced by Top Trumps, a major game card company in the UK.

Initially, I thought a mass produced (or limited edition) set would probably be produced, which never happened.

Here is an image my set. I'll try to make a list when I get the chance.

Ringwalk checklist:

Tyson Fury
Muhammid Ali
Manny Pacquiao
Mike Tyson
Lennox Lewis
Deontay Wilder
Nigel Benn
Carl Froch
Dereck Chisora
David Price
George Groves
Ricky Hatton
David Haye
Scott Quigg
Tony Bellew
Micky Ward
Callum Smith
Neven Pajkic
Naseem Hamed
Mickey O'Neill
Brandon Rios
Paul Smith
David Allen
Hughie Fury
Chris Eubank
Amir Khan
Mikkel Kessler

Thanks.

I wonder what the set is worth?

Good question. When was the last time any of the cards came up for sale?

Really good question...

Worthpoint shows nothing. Ebay's Terapeak shows nothing for the last 3 years.

Not a single sale.

I am kind of surprised, but not. My guess is that a considerable number of people who won these card sets weren't collectors and tossed them aside without any consideration. The lack of history on sales probably exacerbates the situation: a non-collector who runs a search on them and finds nothing may well assume that they are nothing and toss them back in the junk box.

Someone is going to have to do the work to get the cards into PSA holders, and then to get some of them into PSA registry sets, and then be the first to sell. Once that happens it should flush some of them out of the woodwork.

None at PSA, yet.

I will probably eventually get my set slabbed.

Back to the 90's "Autographed" releases. :D

I just noticed this sticker on the front of some of my 1991 "Ringlords" sets.

In addition to confirming how incredibly over-produced they were (if indeed they did actually print that many), it also confirms the crazy low odds of pulling an Autographed card from one of the sets.

1 per 333 "sets", which retailed for about $15-$20 when they first came out.

Not sure I've seen a legitimate factory autographed card of these either.

TCBD has an autographed Holyfield listed that is numbered to 150 in Gold sharpie, but I'm not convinced that's not from an after-market signing (if real to begin with), since bulk lots of these are not hard to come by.

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/si...ld?PageIndex=1

These were also released in little cello packs in the U.K., though I see no evidence of any autographed chase cards offered in those packs, based on the header cards of the packs I have.

Also, I'm not clear if only the sets with the "Special Offer" sticker on it were part of the autograph release, or ALL the sets that don't also have that sticker are part of the release. Either way there's still tons of sealed sets out there that have never been opened, lowering the known population (if there is one) to much less than 900.

I once pulled an odd card out of one of the Ringlords promo cello packs (UK?). At the time, I didn't think much of it at the time. I thought maybe it was a miscut or some type of printing error. All I can recall is that the back was different from the other cards (vertical text, I think, with maybe an oval design element. I don't think it was numbered.). From memory, I can't match the back to any cards from either the UK or US set, including promos and sales samples. Perhaps it was a Signet card, but I don't think it had mail-in instructions. I still have it, but I doubt I could locate it.

Update: I might have bought it out of a dollar bin. I really can't remember exactly. I remember seeing the promo packs for sale at the place I bought it from.

Oh wow, I missed the whole “redeemable” portion of the sticker. Guess there weren’t ANY actual signed cards to pull in the sets or the packs. :(

I guess the question now is……anybody have an actual redemption card at least?

Here is an autographed Signet card:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16592566754...kaAhgIEALw_wcB

Thanks for posting that. Neat that all the pieces regarding the redemption were kept together. Especially since at quick glance it seems there’s nothing about the card itself, that seems any different from a standard issue card, outside of the autograph.

More questions raised that I don’t have time to go into right now, but may circle back on later.

I thought this listing was neat as it shows the redemption card (which sure seems easy to fake and send in multiples). Also, interesting that it is for just a random card and has no information as to subject.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/23557599177...Bo7-6ZA&edge=0

I know it was posted above but just to show they are out there, I found a pic of Palomino on the CU boards as well-

I came across a print ad for the boxed 1991 Ringlords set.

It shows the fronts (4 are partial images) for 5 of the 7 autograph cards:

- Michael Moore
- Evander Holyfield 150 cards (not serial numbered)
- Tommy Morrison
- Donovan Ruddock
- Virgil Hill

FYI, the numbers on the Holyfield card refer to Bible verse Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through him who strengthens me"

900 total autograph cards (900 Signet redemption cards). 300,000 boxed sets produced.

What are the other 2 auto cards?

It appears Terry Norris has a Red Border Kayo signed insert as well. That would make a total of six signature cards that have been discovered.

I also have the Pernell Whitaker Kayo Red Border signature card that was created but never distributed.

Unsure how many of these actually exist but this was likely a protoype as you'll notice the weight class is missing on the back of the card.

That Norris is awesome, exciting to see a new one. I believe this makes the provable checklist, surely incomplete:

14 Charles Williams
15 Meldrick Taylor
20 Terry Norris
80 Pernell Whitaker (Not actually signed)
89 Donovan Ruddock
180 James Toney
190 Carlos Palomino

Would be great to find some documentation from the publisher about what was going on with these.

I have a print ad that says there are 7 cards, so that should be the entire list.

A few more from my collection I think are appropriate for the thread?

1991 Kayo Series Two Prototype Terry Norris #251
2006 Oakland Museum of California Andre Ward
2013 Dragon Brusher(?) Kostya Tszyu
2022 Fangir Legacy Series Chris John
2022 Bucky Nine Heritage of Legend Yuh Myung-woo

From November 11, 1991 Baseball Card News:

Ive ripped so much of the Kayo and never hit an Auto. Was beginning to think it was like the Yeti or Lochness monster

That's Ringlords, not Kayo? Is there a source for only 7 in Kayo?

I remember reading they only put one auto in every three cases or so

Yes, that's Ringlords, not Kayo.

I haven't seen an official source for Kayo. (there is a full scan of a press folder on ebay, but it doesn't say anything about autographs)

I’m thinking about selling a few of the Ringwalk cards but I don’t have any idea what to ask for them.

Do you have the complete set?

Would be interested, let me know price/what you're selling from the set. Thank you!

I only have a few singles but I have no idea how to price them.

I'd be inclined to grade them first. It should add a good premium, even if not the key cards of the set.

Added unsigned versions of the Taylor and Norris signature cards to my collection this week

I really wonder how many of the 'reds' actually made it into packs?

The unsigned ones didn't get inserted in packs, correct?

FWIW, I listed two of the Ring Walk cards (Rios and Ward) on the 'bay. Adam's Cards and More is the store. I wanted to name it "The Crapateria" but my daughter said it was a bad idea.

Did you feel the earthquake? Hope you didn't have any stacks of cards fall over.

Ehh, we're used to them. Barely even registered at my house.

How about a game card of the Klitschko Brothers, Vitali and Wladimir. Technically, a wrestling card, but they must have been in the audience at a WWE event at one time.

I sold one for about $15 to an overseas buyer about 15 years ago, and haven't seen another one since, until one showed up yesterday with some cards I had packed away.

Is that from one of those Topps overseas Match Attax/Slam Attax sets?

No, it is from a promotions game card set for an upcoming Topps WWE Insider card set published in the UK. It was published by Konami, a Japanese company, for international sales, but the cards showed up at flea markets and a few on ebay, as well. They were released in 31-card hanger boxes, with later versions having an extra shiny or holographic-effect bonus card. There were new sets published periodically with much of the cards being republished, but I think that the Klitschko card only showed up in one version.