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When Muhammad Ali first donated them to the Smithsonian in 1976, the red Everlast boxing gloves he gave were thought to be the same pair he wore during his "Rumble in the Jungle" bout in 1974 with young George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire.

Since then, however, close study of films and photographs of the fight has raised questions of whether Ali wore the gloves in the Foreman fight or another bout. The robe in the photograph, signed by Ali, is from the same time period, though it's not clear if Ali wore it for a fight.

The gloves bear a special number used by manufacturer Everlast to indicate they were made for a professional match; but which match is not specified. (The carbon dating process that researchers use to pin down important periods in anthropological history apparently can't help clarify things.

That fancy process is better for answering stumpers such as "when did the earliest inhabitants of North America live?" rather than determining the time and place of orbit-altering right jabs or ferocious left hooks.

Only the Smithsonian has folks whose jobs range from collecting Ali's boxing gloves to tracking ancient civilization - always searching for historical common denominators, and not the lowest ones.) Whether or not Ali wore the gloves in the "Rumble in the Jungle," both the gloves and the "rumble" are still getting attention two decades after they first made news.

First exhibited years ago in Washington, D.C., the gloves recently have been seen by more than two million visitors to the America's Smithsonian traveling exhibition.

Celebrating the Smithsonian's 150th anniversary (1846-1996), America's Smithsonian has taken more than 300 historical artifacts on tour to venues all over the United States. And the "Rumble in the Jungle," as Ali named his battle with Foreman?

The fight has recently been documented in the film "When We Were Kings," directed by Leon Gast, who followed Ali and Foreman around Zaire in the weeks before Ali defeated Foreman on October 30, 1974. In 1964, Ali won the world heavyweight title for the first time.

He regained it from Foreman in 1974, only the second man ever to recover the title. Although he lost the title again February 15, 1978, to Leon Spinks, Ali managed to win it back for a third and final time in a rematch with Spinks on September 15, 1978.