World Class Boxers Team Up With Silk Road Gifts, Inc. For The Boxing Series Gift Collection

Ali, Holmes, Duran and Cooney Lend Their Hands to this Seasons’ Best Boxing Gift

At a press party in New York City, Silk Road Gifts, Inc. kicked off it’s newest project – The Boxing Series, featuring the handprints of some of boxing’s greatest legends -- Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, and Gerry Cooney -- cast in poly-resin. (See photo gallery)

“Never before have four boxers of this caliber teamed up on a project like this,” said Steve Strompf, Director of Sales and Marketing for Silk Road Gifts, Inc. and the mind behind the Boxing Series. “We actually had several boxers interested in being a part of the series, especially since we’ve maintained throughout the entire process that this is about the fans being able to own a piece of boxing history.”

Each of the boxers had a mold made of his hand, which was cast in poly-resin. Each casted handprint is displayed on a wooden plaque with a brass nameplate bearing the boxer’s name. The handprint plaque is packaged in a unique gift box, which also includes a collectible poster of the featured boxer along with his career statistics. Handprints for each boxer will be packaged separately and each will retail for between $50 - $60 in stores throughout the U.S. The Boxing Series should hit store shelves in time for the holiday gift-giving season.

Project Background

The brainchild of Steven Strompf, Silk Roads Gifts Director of Sales and Marketing, the Boxing Series is the amalgam of a childhood tradition, a love of boxing, and giftware business expertise. Strompf’s mother used to make prints of his and his brother's hands using different materials, which gave Strompf an understanding for the uniqueness of each person's hand.

After a chance meeting in Hong Kong with Sam Cohen, a well-known figure in the boxing world, in the winter of 1999, Strompf formulated the idea of bringing together some of the greatest names in boxing to create a project incorporating Strompf's giftware background and his childhood memories of handprints. Strompf pulled out Cohen's card and gave him a call to pitch the project. According to Cohen, he was immediately interested and promised to approach several prominent boxers on Strompf's behalf.

The response from the boxers was overwhelming and after much deliberation, Silk Road Gifts narrowed the list down to some of the best in the business: Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, and Gerry Cooney. All four boxers not only had tremendous careers, but they are all known for their commitment to and involvement with the community.

The Silk Road Gifts team worked to create a product that would positively showcase the boxers to the public, deciding on a handprint cast in polyresin mounted on a wooden plaque with a solid brass nameplate. Finally, everyone agreed that the product should be available to a wide range of boxing fans, not just serious collectors, and so the Boxing Series will retail for $50- $60 in stores around the country.
 

###