Turkish foundation buys legendary boxer Muhammad Ali’s property in Michigan
Photo: Cressy & Everett Real Estate


A Turkish educational foundation bought the farm property belonging to legendary Muslim boxer Muhammad Ali, who passed away in 2016.

The property, which spans over an approximately 328-decare land on the edge of the Joseph River in Berrien Springs in northern U.S. state of Michigan, was sold to the New York-based Turken Foundation in December by Muhammad Ali's wife Lonnie Ali, the American daily Chicago Tribune reported.

Ali bought the property in mid-1970s for $400,000 and used the property for secluding himself from time to time after moving to Los Angeles and Arizona, the report said.

Apart from a four-bedroom house, the property also includes seven additional buildings, including a gym with a boxing ring, a basketball field and a pool. U.S. media outlets valued the sale at $2.5 million.

Tim Mitchell from Cressy & Everett, the real estate agency that sold the property, said that there were many potential customers from many countries including Indonesia and Dubai. He said that they sold the property to the Turken Foundation as "the buyers fell in love with the region and nostalgia."

Ali, former world heavyweight champion, died in June 2016 at the age of 74 in the U.S. city of Phoenix, Arizona after suffering from a respiratory illness complicated by Parkinson's disease.

Ali was known as Cassius Clay before he embraced Islam in the early 1960s with the Nation of Islam group, which combined Islam with African-American political activism, before turning to mainstream Sunni Islam in 1975.

He held the heavyweight title on three separate occasions. His fights are among the greatest in the sport. However, it was his charisma and devotion to causes such as civil rights that led him to transcend boxing.

Turken Foundation established in 2014 in the U.S. by Turkey's two prominent educational foundations, Ensar and Türgev, to assist eligible students by means of housing, scholarship and other cultural programs to improve their educational experience in the U.S.