Boxing memorabilia and boxing autographs, make impeccable presents for anyone into sports souvenirs. Unlike most presents, they also make great investments. Any piece of boxing memorabilia a person can afford to buy now will easily make its money back in 10 years – because boxers, unlike other "stars", never seem to fade in the public imagination.

The thing about boxing memorabilia: unlike pretty much any other sport, the people who box are either famous or they’re not. That makes most boxing memorabilia high quality, and guarantees it a steady appreciation in value. And that means that buying boxing memorabilia as presents ensures there’s no disappointment when the wrapping paper hits the floor.

Imagine, for a moment, this alternative scenario. Rather than boxing memorabilia, a person chooses to buy a signed photo of a footballer for their sport-mad father/brother/other half. Only to find that the carefully-chosen image is received with lukewarm praise because the footballer in question has moved clubs, or isn’t scoring enough goals, or was never really liked in the first place anyway. Doesn’t happen with boxing memorabilia. Someone either likes Muhammad Ali, or they don’t.

For collectors, boxing memorabilia (particularly boxing autographs, in any form) represents a kind of assured centrepiece. Boxers become famous for beating other boxers – so by the time they are well-known enough to be marketing boxing autographs, their place in the sport’s history is already cemented. Players in team sports are associated as much with teams as they are with individual prowess, often "famous" only for a short space of time because they happened to play in a successful team during a good season. Imagine a signed photo of Kenny Sansom and you’ll see what we mean. Most people finding that on a website wouldn’t even know who Kenny Sansom was. How many people in the world don’t recognise the name Muhammad Ali?

Try a little experiment. Find a website that sells boxing memorabilia. Load it up and scroll through the names associated with the gloves and photos on offer. How many names are recognisable? Now try the same thing with a football or rugby related souvenir site. Bottom line: everyone knows who the guys on the boxing memorabilia sites are, and everyone’s impressed by boxing autographs bearing their scrawl. Muhammad Ali; Amir Khan; Chris Eubank; Jake LaMotta: who wouldn’t be impressed? Owning a genuine piece of boxing memorabilia is like owning Geoff Hurst’s shorts.

Even boxing’s anti-heroes are a big draw. No collection of boxing memorabilia would be complete without a signed photo of Mike Tyson, or boxing autographs written by the sport’s most famous losers. Fighters who fall in big showcases are as important in the history of the sport as the boxer who beats them: the former Cassius Clay would never be as famous as he is if he hadn’t pasted George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle. Boxing memorabilia, from this angle, is unique again: "losers" in team sports get quickly written out of history, while the beaten from the ring retain iconic status simply because they were there.

Boxing memorabilia and boxing autographs, then, make impeccable presents for anyone into sports souvenirs. Unlike most presents, they also make great investments. Any piece of boxing memorabilia a person can afford to buy now will easily make its money back in 10 years – because boxers, unlike other "stars", never seem to fade in the public imagination.

Boxing memorabilia is different from other sporting souvenirs – it comes with a steadily increasing value and appeal.