There have been champs...but there will never be another Ali.

For fans of The Champ, they probably knew this...but many others didn't realize he had a place here in Michigan where he spent summers, part of his remaining years, and trained.

It's a beautiful, 81-acre estate in Berrien Springs in Berrien County, close to the Indiana border, surrounded by forestry and the St. Joseph River. It was built in 1900 and burned down under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s....it might have had something to do with the tenant at the time: Louis “Little New York" Campagna, bodyguard for Al Capone, who had his own place just downriver.

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In 1955, the property was used as a sanitarium.

In 1975, Muhammad Ali bought the estate. He would come here to recuperate from some of his toughest battles including matches with George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and Leon Spinks. He also trained for fights in his own boxing ring.

Ali wanted to keep the place as simple as possible - just have only what he and his wife needed and didn't want to add all the glitzy decor and "Hollywood clutter" that so many other celebrities had.

Even so, the estate was  - and still is – amazingly well-kept and beautiful with many amenities:
Barns
Bath house
Boxing ring
Carriage house
Circular drive
Four bedrooms
Garages
Gazebo
Gym
Offices
Outdoor bar
Outdoor fireplace
Outdoor kitchen
Patio
Ponds
Pool
Privacy
Professional landscaping
Rock garden
Security system
Shade trees
St. Joseph River
Two bathrooms
Vegetable gardens

As for the swimming pool, when the place was being renovated, secret rooms from the Capone days were discovered underneath. Instead of filling the old underground rooms with dirt, they were utilized to make the pool deeper: 12 feet deep.

After Ali retired from boxing, he used the barn to store a lot of his career mementos and memorabilia.
He passed away on June 3, 2016.
In 2019, the estate sold for 2.5 million dollars.

Now see some images – inside and out – of this former Michigan home and getaway of Muhammad Ali.....

Muhammad Ali's Michigan Estate

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