With asking price of $142 million, no bidders for home of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A second attempt to auction the family home of Myanmar's imprisoned former leader Aung San Suu Kyi failed on Thursday after no bidders showed up, likely deterred by the court-ordered asking price of $142 million.

Suu Kyi spent 15 years in the home under house arrest, hosting visiting dignitaries including U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and many see it as a historical landmark in her nonviolent struggle against military rule, for which she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The minimum sale price of 300 billion kyats was a reduction from the initial attempt in March to get 315 billion kyats, about $150 million at official rates.

With black-market exchange rates, which better reflect the real value of the kyat — which has been plummeting — the March asking price was about $90 million and the current price was closer to $46 million — still a lot to pay in a country in the middle of a civil war where nearly half the people are living below the national poverty line of 76 U.S. cents per day, according to the United Nations.

Proceeds from the sale of the 1.9-acre (0.78-hectare) lakeside property in Yangon were to be split between Suu Kyi and her estranged older brother. Suu Kyi’s lawyers had challenged the auction order.

The attempted auction was held in front of the closed gates of the property, which has served as an unofficial party headquarters and a political shrine for the country’s pro-democracy movement.

It lasted less than one minute before a district court official announced there had been no bidders and she ended the proceedings.

According to legal procedures, the court will continue to handle the auction process, but the details are not yet known.

The two-story colonial-style building in Yangon, the country's largest city, was given decades ago by the government to Suu Kyi’s mother, Khin Kyi, after her husband, independence hero Gen. Aung San, was assassinated in July 1947.

Suu Kyi, 79, remained there after her 2010 release from house arrest until moving in 2012 to the capital, Naypyitaw, to serve in parliament. She became the nation’s leader after a 2015 general election.

Her elected government was ousted in an army takeover in February 2021, and Suu Kyi is now serving a combined 27-year sentence after being convicted of a string of criminal charges.

Her supporters and independent analysts say the charges were concocted to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power.

The court-ordered auction followed a bitter decades-long legal dispute between Suu Kyi and her brother, Aung San Oo, who has sought an equal division of the property.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers have not been allowed to meet with her since they last saw her in person in December 2022.

FILE - Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walk through the garden after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar on Dec. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool, File)

Journalists gather outside the residence of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the home is auctioned in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Journalists gather outside the residence of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the home is auctioned in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Unidentified legal officials from Kamayut district court walk into an entrance of the residence of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the home is auctioned in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Journalists gather outside the residence of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the home is auctioned in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Journalists gather outside the residence of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the home is auctioned in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

An unidentified legal official from Kamayut district court speaks outside the residence of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the home is auctioned in Yangon, MyanmarThursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

LONDON (AP) — Daniel Dubois didn't have to dethrone anyone to become a world heavyweight champion. So he has something to prove when he makes his first title defense before one of the biggest crowds in British boxing history.

If he successfully defends his IBF belt on Saturday by beating fellow Briton Anthony Joshua in front of 96,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, Dubois might just transform himself into boxing’s next big thing.

“I’m getting used to the idea that I’m the world champion but I think I need to legitimize it by beating AJ," Dubois told The Associated Press in an interview. “That’s the way I do it and cement my name, cement my legacy in the sport of boxing.”

The 27-year-old Dubois was awarded the belt in late June after then-undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine relinquished it.

He knows that most boxing fans — the British ones in particular — want to see Joshua become a three-time champion to set up a long-anticipated showdown with Tyson Fury.

But the hard-punching Dubois — a south London native who has been boxing since the age of 7 — has plans of his own.

“Make him quit, break him down, unleash hell on him,” Dubois said of his strategy for fight night.

Nicknamed “Dynamite,” the 6-foot-5 (1.95-meter) Dubois has had obstacles to overcome on his path to Wembley.

He hopes to make the 34-year-old Joshua quit but Dubois himself had to answer questions about quitting after he took a knee and was counted out in the 10th round against Joe Joyce on November 2020. That was his first professional loss.

Dubois' left eye had been swollen shut — there was an orbital bone fracture and nerve damage.

He bounced back by winning four straight bouts to earn a title shot at Usyk last summer. The fight was held in Poland, where many Ukrainians have taken refuge because of Russia's invasion of their country.

With huge support from his compatriots, Usyk stopped Dubois in the ninth round. Boxing is never far from controversy and this fight had its share: Dubois had dropped the champion in the fifth round but the referee ruled it a low blow and allowed Usyk several minutes to recover.

Since then, Dubois responded with two knockout victories. Despite being comfortably ahead of 333-pound Jarrell Miller, Dubois piled on the pressure in the final round, getting the stoppage in the final seconds of the bout. Dubois bloodied Filip Hrgovic early and stopped the Croatian in the eighth round.

The impressive win over Hrgovic in early June gave Dubois the “interim” title weeks before Usyk relinquished the belt. It also means 20 of his 21 wins have come via knockouts. The only time he went to points was six years ago in his eighth professional fight.

Back in 2017, it was then 27-year-old Joshua who spectacularly knocked out Wladimir Klitschko in a title fight at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans.

Dubois says it's his turn.

“This is my time now, and I’m ready to take it with both hands, show the world what I’m all about," he said, pointing to a Usyk rematch as his next goal even though the Ukrainian has talked about returning to cruiserweight after his Dec. 21 rematch with Tyson Fury.

He also wants to make his family proud. His father, Dave Dubois, raised 11 children in a household where sports and music dominated. Dubois says he doesn't play any instruments or sing though. His younger sister Caroline Dubois is also a successful pro boxer.

Officially, it’s the first time they’ll square off but Dubois and Joshua had a much-debated sparring session about a decade ago. It seems clear that Dubois caught Joshua — who two years earlier had won gold for Britain at the London Olympics — with a good punch, but beyond that it’s just rumors. Promoter Frank Warren has said that sparring session led him to sign Dubois.

“Sparring is sparring, this is a fight. It bears no relevance to today,” Dubois said. “It was good for me at the time, but I’m a new man, a new fighter now. I’ve put that behind me. I’m the man of the future.”

He suspects most of the crowd — and perhaps many of those watching on DAZN's streaming service — will be on AJ’s side.

“They probably will be overlooking me," he said. "It’s up to me to prove them wrong."

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

British boxer Anthony Joshua arrives at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, Tuesday Sept.17, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

FILE - Britain's Daniel Dubois, left, and Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk during their world heavyweight title fight at Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)

FILE - British former world champion Anthony Joshua, right, and MMA fighter Francis Ngannou fight during the heavyweight boxing showdown at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, March 9, 2024. (AP Photo, file)

British boxer Daniel Dubois arrives at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, Tuesday Sept.17, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)

British boxer Daniel Dubois arrives at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, Tuesday Sept.17, 2024. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)