These boxing gloves from 1929 were specially hand-made out of leather and plant fibres for the legendary fighter Josep Joan Gironès, known as the crack of Gràcia, when he discovered that he was going to be a father. As the child turned out to be a girl, the gloves were put away in a box.

When the Civil War broke out, Gironès, who had been the featherweight champion of Catalonia, of Spain and on several occasions of Europe, retired and joined the police force and was assigned as a personal escort to the President of the Catalan Government, Lluís Companys. After the War he was interned in the concentration camps of Argelers and Bram and finally went into exile in Mexico. His family remained in Barcelona. With his wife in prison and his daughter living with the grandparents, their home was occupied by a Falangist family who plundered all the family’s assets. Fortunately, these gloves were kept hidden and 75 years later that girl, Dolors Joan Vilella, donated them to the Museum.