GOAT: The Greatest Of All Time

As long as Don King’s hair continues to defy anatomical science, boxing gods like Muhammad Ali will forever reign in our pop-consciousness.

Just as he was when Andy Warhol captured him, an icon alongside Elvis and Marilyn in life-sized multicoloured splendour, Ali continues to represent a certain kind of famousness that goes beyond celebrity. Bigger than Jesus? Maybe not. Bigger than Elvis? We’ll take it. And as far as we know, The King of Rock and Roll still does not have a $15,000 dollar coffee table book dedicated to his life and exploits.

Yes, we’ll admit the thought of dropping 15 grand on a 792-page, 75-pound book about Muhammad Ali in these economic doldrums could get you deemed clinically insane. But, if anyone deserved such a tribute—and if anyone’s legacy is more or less guaranteed to endure over time, thus making this terribly worth it — it’s Ali’s. That, and this is “the biggest, heaviest, most radiant thing ever printed in the history of civilization,” as Der Spiegel put it.

Limited to 1,000 individually numbered copies and bound by the official bindery for the Vatican, (in pink leather, the color of Ali's first Cadillac), each copy was signed by chief book artist Jeff Koons and the champ himself. It’s jam packed with over 3,000 images – gorgeously restored photographs, art and memorabilia, much of it published for the first time - from over 150 photographers and artists. There’s also some original essays and some of the best interviews with Ali of the last five decades. It's here where you'll find his prickliest one liners, like, “If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize."

If that still doesn't seem worthy of the hefty price tag, factor in four gallery-quality silver gelatine prints signed by photographer Howard L. Bingham and Muhammad Ali, and the sculpture "Radial Champs" by Jeff Koons, all included in the set.  

Come on. You know you want one.