With its Great Characters collector line, Montblanc honours the individuals whose accomplishments have left an indelible mark on humankind and whose influence lives on today. Few athletes are as celebrated and honoured as three-time heavyweight champion of the world, Muhammad Ali, whose legendary moments in sports and civil rights activism made him one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. The Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Collection is dedicated to a man who not only challenged opponents in the boxing ring but who used his mind, charisma and voice as an outspoken and tireless advocate for civil rights, sacrificing a long period of his career to stand up for what he believed in.

Born Cassius Clay (1942-2016) in Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali took up boxing at the age of 12 after having his bicycle stolen and taking the advice of a police officer: before looking for retaliation, he should learn to fight. At 18, he stepped into the global spotlight at the 1960 Summer Games in Rome when he competed as an amateur light heavyweight and won the gold medal.

Just four years later, he shook up the world of sports when he became world heavyweight boxing champion of the world, the same year he formally changed his name to Muhammad Ali.

He soon directed his passion into the fight for civil rights and peace. When he refused military service in 1967, his sports licence was suspended, and he was stripped of his world champion title. After three and a half years, he was allowed back into the ring and was able to capture his second and third world titles. To this day, Muhammad Ali is the only three-time lineal world heavyweight boxing champion.

Made up of three individual editions, each one representing one of his three major victories (1964, 1974 and 1978), the design of the Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ collection highlights different aspects of his extraordinary life and enduring legacy. The structure of boxing tape, wrapped around the champion’s hands, is a reference to the art of boxing that he came to master. Often used to describe his incomparable style in the ring that combined lightness with speed, the words “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” have been translated into the shape of the pen’s pointed cone to represent the bee, while the butterfly can be found decorating the cap. The ultimate reward for every boxer, the pen’s clip features a belt akin to the ones awarded to champions.

Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Special Edition

As a symbol of Muhammad Ali’s achievements as a boxing champion, the four ropes that surround the boxing ring are represented as four engraved lines on the cone, while the cap of the writing instrument is shaped like a punchbag. The bandages boxers use to protect their hands under the boxing gloves find expression in the structure of the matte black precious resin that appears to wrap around the barrel.

His legendary victory at the Summer Games in 1960 is immortalised on the gold-coated cone with the engraving ‘ROMA MCMLX’. Only four years later in Miami, against all predictions, he dethroned the world champion Sonny Liston. The words ‘I shook up the world’, spoken with pride after his spectacular fight, are engraved on the cap. The white precious resin Montblanc emblem on the cap top is adorned with the number ‘1’ in honour of this first world title of his boxing career. Cassius Clay’s victory pose is engraved alongside the inscription ‘TKO-W 7 (15)’ (technical knockout in the 7th of 15 rounds) on the gold-coated cap ring, while the cone bears the engraving ‘MIAMI 1964’.

The title belt Muhammad Ali wore inspired the design of the skeletonized clip, inscribed with ‘ALI’. Underneath, a laurel wreath symbolizes the triumphant victories of the great boxer. Because all of his victories, whether athletic or civil, rest on the reputation he established with his boxing gloves, the handcrafted, solid Au 585 gold nib is artfully engraved with this vital part of a boxer’s equipment.

Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Limited Edition 1942

With a limitation number representing the year of his birth, the Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Limited Edition 1942 features a yellow gold-coated bandage design, with the four boxing ring ropes represented by four green lacquered lines on the cone. In 1974, when he challenged the reigning heavyweight champion George Foreman in the legendary ‘Rumble in the

Jungle’ fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, Muhammad Ali wore a coat as he entered the stadium which inspired the pattern of white and black lacquer with gold intarsia on the cap. The victory pose he assumed after defeating George Foreman is engraved on the yellow gold-coated cap ring alongside the inscription ‘KO-W 8 (15)’ (knockout in the 8th of 15 rounds). The white precious resin Montblanc emblem on the cap top is adorned with the number ‘2’ to commemorate this second world title.

In 1975, just one year after Muhammad Ali’s second championship, another legendary fight went down in boxing history: Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, billed as the ‘Thrilla in Manila’. The boxers took each other to the limit in a breathtaking contest that lasted 14 rounds before Muhammad Ali prevailed. The two famous matches won by Muhammad Ali in two successive years are memorialized on the cone of writing instrument with the inscription ‘KINSHASA 1974 QUEZON CITY 1975’. The skeletonised clip with its victory belt is inscribed with the name ‘ALI’ and a star at the lower end with the laurel wreath below it. The cap is decorated with a lacquered butterfly, while the solid Au 750 gold bi-color nib is engraved with his boxing glove.

Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Limited Edition 98

A pair of hanging boxing gloves adorns the cap of the Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Limited Edition 98 as a hand-engraved, solid Au 750 gold inlay. His determined focus on boxing is represented in the design of the cap, which is shaped like a punchbag, and the blue guilloche lacquering that winds around the cap creates the textured look of the bandages he used to protect his hands.

Muhammad Ali’s victory against Leon Spinks in New Orleans on September 15, 1978 after fifteen rounds by jury vote is the inspiration for the inscription on the cap ring, ‘W 15 (15)’. His third win is represented with the number ‘3’ embedded on the cap top in the centre of the Montblanc emblem cast from solid Au 750 gold. The skeletonized victory belt yellow gold-coated clip is inscribed with the name ‘ALI’ and set with a diamond at the lower end. The laurel wreath printed onto the cap as a frame for the victory belt clip references the triumphant wins of ‘The Greatest™’.

The limitation of 98 fountain pens is a reference to the year 1998 when Muhammad Ali was named a “Messenger of Peace” of the United Nations. His determination to stand for peace is captured on the cap of the Limited Edition 98 with a hand-engraved solid Au 750 gold inlay depicting a dove. His beliefs and vision live on in the work of the Muhammad Ali Cultural Center in Louisville today, where visitors learn about the boxer’s life and the six principles he lived by: confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect and spirituality – all engraved on the solid Au 750 gold forepart. Marking his dedication to these principles even through difficult times, the handcrafted, solid Au 750 yellow gold nib is engraved with a portrait of Muhammad Ali surrounded by six stars.

Opened by Muhammad Ali in 2005, the dynamic design of the Muhammad Ali Cultural Center expresses Muhammad Ali’s vitality in the giant boxing figures created from colored windows on the side of the building. This façade inspired the color-block boxing figure decorating the barrel of the writing instrument as a printed underlay beneath a solid Au 750 white gold skeleton overlay. The story of his third World Championship title won in the second of two fights in 1978, is reflected in the two blue lines on the cone, while the four engraved lines represent the four ropes of a boxing ring. The engraving on the cone, ‘New Orleans 1978 New York 1998’, synthesizes Muhammad Ali’s two great roles of athlete and humanitarian by memorializing his third title win in New Orleans in 1978 and his designation as a United Nations Messenger of Peace in New York in 1998.

To complete the writing experience, the assortment features a Notebook #146 in Saffiano leather decorated with the silhouette of Muhammad Ali in one of his iconic victory poses, as well as a green special edition ink.

Through the Maison’s passion for design and craftsmanship, Montblanc tells the fascinating story of a champion who inspired people around the world, not just because of his dedication in the boxing ring but his commitment to helping others and always standing up for what he believed in.

Montblanc Great Characters Muhammad Ali™ Collection is available from November 2023 from Montblanc boutiques worldwide and online. For more information, visit www.montblanc.com

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