On February 14, 1973, two of the most famous men on the planet met backstage at the Las Vegas Hilton, and neither of them knew quite what to do. Elvis Presley had just come offstage. Muhammad Ali had been in the audience. Ali’s own fight doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, watched it happen and said it perfectly: “They really didn’t know what to do with each other.”
Elvis was thrilled to be near Ali. Ali was just as thrilled to be near Elvis. And then Elvis handed him a gift that both men would remember for the rest of their lives.
It was a robe — an “Elvis style” robe, the kind he’d have worn himself, covered in rhinestones and jewels, worth around $3,000 at the time. That’s roughly $21,000 in today’s money, for a piece of clothing. Across the back, spelled out in stones, were the words: “People’s Choice.”
Muhammad Ali wearing the Robe Elvis Presley gave him, Feb 1973
Except there was a problem, and Elvis spotted it immediately. Ali’s famous nickname was “The People’s Champion.” Not “People’s Choice.” The wording on the most expensive gift Elvis had ever handed a fellow superstar was wrong — and by the time anyone realized, it was far too late to fix. By all accounts, Elvis was genuinely upset about it. Ali didn’t care in the slightest. He thanked Elvis, took the robe, and went straight from that meeting to the Las Vegas Convention Center for his fight that night against Joe Bugner.
He wore it into the ring. The referee could be heard saying, “Quite a robe, Muhammad.” And Ali won.
The Amazing Friendship of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali
Then came March 31, 1973, in San Diego. Ali was fighting a fighter almost nobody gave a chance: Ken Norton. Ali was a five-to-one favorite with the bookmakers, cocky and undertrained, and he walked to the ring in Elvis’s jeweled robe for the second time. The TV commentator told viewers exactly where it came from and what it cost, calling it Ali’s pride and joy.
What happened next was one of the great upsets in boxing history. Norton beat him on a split decision — only the second loss of Ali’s entire professional career — and broke Ali’s jaw doing it. Ali’s corner believes it was broken in the very first round and that he fought on for twelve.
Ali decided the robe was bad luck, and he never wore it again. But here’s what makes this story stick.
The friendship didn’t end with it. Ali later spoke about Elvis with real warmth, remembering that Elvis came out to his Deer Lake training camp and asked for peace — so Ali gave him a cabin and told nobody. While the cameras filmed Ali training, the King of Rock and Roll was asleep on the hill above them, and not one reporter knew.
Ali gave Elvis something in return that night in Vegas too: a pair of autographed red boxing gloves. The inscription on them read four words. “You are the Greatest.” From the man who called himself exactly that.