Boxing fans can get their hands on a rarified piece of Muhammad Ali’s early life as his childhood Kentucky home has come to market.
Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., grew up in the pink Louisville home and even learned to box there. In the intervening decades, it’s been turned into a museum dedicated entirely to Ali, who was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Century and is considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. However, the museum has been shuttered for the last five years.
Co-owner George Bochetto told the Associated Press that ‘finding a buyer willing to maintain Ali’s childhood home as a museum would be “the best possible result'”.
The Louisville property at 3302 Grand Avenue is listed for $1.5m via Christie’s International Bluegrass. It actually encompasses three homes—Ali’s family residence plus two neighbouring homes, one of which was converted into a welcome centre and the other envisaged as a short-term stay. The museum opened shortly before Ali’s death in 2016.
Ali first became world heavyweight champion in 1964 and then twice again in the 1970s. He is equally celebrated for his activism in the Civil Rights Movement and philanthropy outside of the ring. The frame house is expected to garner interest from collectors and has been renovated to look as it did in 1955 when Ali lived there with his parents and brother.