In a pale pink, single story home at 3302 Grand Ave. — that’s where it all began.
Muhammad Ali moved into this house at around age two with his parents Odessa and Cassius Clay, Sr. shortly after his brother Rahaman Ali was born. He lived here when he met his first boxing coach Joe Martin. He lived here while attending Central High School, running the three miles to school alongside the bus. He lived here when he won his first gold medal at age 18 in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
If Ali floated like a butterfly, this house was his chrysalis — and now its on the market.
Turning back the clock
Back in 2016, Pennsylvania trial lawyer and former boxing commissioner George Bochetto partnered with investor Jared Weiss to convert the house to a museum. They, along with Rahaman Ali, restored the house to how Muhammad would have seen it as a child. The Muhammad Ali Childhood Home Museum opened that May, shortly before Ali’s death.
The museum remained open to the public for just under two years before suffering a TKO in Sept. 2017. Bochetto and Weiss cited a lack of investment by the city. There were several fund raising efforts, but the museum never reopened.
On the market
Now, the house is preparing for its next bout. Listed for $1.5 million, the lot includes the iconic pink house, plus the houses on either side. One was purchased from Ali’s neighbors, the Montgomerys, and converted to a gift shop, while the other was intended to be a short-term rental. Ali’s house is still in the same condition it was as a museum, and Bochetto hopes to find a buyer who will continue to share the historic location with the community that raised “The Greatest.”
Bonus: The house on Grand Avenue has a Kentucky Historical Society marker out front, identifying it as a point of important history for the state.
