An abandoned Southington, Ohio, mansion once owned by heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is set to be converted into a church.
Tyson bought the mansion in the late 1980s to be near promoter Don King and fixed it up with crystal chandeliers, tiger print carpet, and gold-plated decor.
Tyson sold the mansion for $1.3 million 1999, after serving time in prison for a 1992 rape conviction. The property has since had multiple owners.
“As I wandered the halls and rooms, I imagined the wild parties which must have taken place within these walls,” photographer Johnny Joo, who recently took
photos of the abandoned mansion, wrote on his website, Architectural Afterlife.
Joo was invited to photograph the mansion before it is renovated.
The mansion has five bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, a full size pool and Jacuzzi, tiger cages, and a basketball court.
“My journeys have taken me to some strange places, ranging from the creepiness of an abandoned lunatic asylum, to the quiet, vast emptiness of a forgotten chapel, but nothing quite like the abandoned home of a former professional boxer,” Joo wrote.
The mansion’s current owner, Nick Dejacimo, said he wants to convert the
60-acre property into a church campus, The Huffington Post reported.
They hope to invite Tyson to the first gathering in the church sanctuary.
Twitter users commented about the mansion.
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