'Pawn Stars' guest brings boxing icon's punching bags — Corey Harrison didn't want to 'take a chance'
Among the diverse items that show up on "Pawn Stars," sports memorabilia often stands out among the most uber-cool vintage collectibles. Rocky Marciano is one of the all-time greats in the world of professional boxing, and reigned as the heavyweight champion in the 1950s. That's why punching bags that the legend once trained with, appearing in the pawn shop, was a big deal. Rick Harrison's son Corey was present in the shop when the rare item arrived and turned to his expert, Jeremy Brown, just to be sure. However, he failed to make a deal as the sky-high asking price of $375,000 was too much for the shop.
As soon as Brown saw the two punching bags, he was star-struck. "This is amazing. I mean, Rocky Marciano is just an absolute legend in the world of boxing. He's one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, and just pummeled his opponents in the ring with just unparalleled power, despite the fact that everyone called him undersized," he noted.
The seller, Scotty, added that he had watched footage of Marciano fight, and he knocked out big guys with just a punch. "Rocky Marciano embodied what a great heavyweight champion should be. He didn't have the greatest reach or height, but he made up for it in just brute power and charisma," Brown added.
Corey then asked Brown about the value of the item, as Scotty was looking for a whopping $375,000 for the pair of punching bags. Brown told Corey that the most valuable piece of boxing memorabilia was Muhammad Ali's trunks from the Fight of the Century against Joe Frazier, and it was sold for $175,000. He then looked at the paperwork and affidavits that Scotty brought to prove the chain of ownership.
Brown noted that while the paperwork did mention that the bags were linked to Grosenger's Training Camp, where Rocky Marciano trained, they had no identifying number or marks on them. "Unlike autographs, where you have established third-party authentication services out there, there's really not a company that's an authority that can authenticate these because of the fact that they're one-of-a-kind, there's no serial numbers, markings anywhere specific on it," he explained.
However, he did admit that being one of a kind, they could be very valuable, and a collector with deep pockets may even spend a million dollars on the item.
Corey then took over to share his thoughts on the deal. "I mean, you have affidavits from nobody I've ever heard of. You have photographs with Rocky and a bag. You know, you may have a point. You might be 100% right, it's just not a chance I can take, not with my money," he told Scotty. He then politely refused to make a deal as he felt a buyer wouldn't come strolling into the shop and spend six figures on the item. "I would really very much try to sell them in an auction house and get somebody else to put their put their name with it," he added.
In the end, Corey told Scotty that the bags could definitely be worth a lot of money, but the pawn shop wasn't the right place.
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