(L-R) Loni Ali, Harrison Ford – Getty Images/Ethan Miller(PHOENIX) — Stars from the sports and entertainment — including actor Harrison Ford, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, country stars Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn, and The Beach Boys’ Mike Love — converged on Phoenix, Arizona’s J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa for the 23rd annual Celebrity Fight Night, honoring the life of Muhammad Ali.
Other guests included Laila Ali, actresses Melissa Peterman, Gena Lee Nolin and Bo Derek, former Major League Baseball star Kirk Gibson, TV host Larry King and actor Dennis Quaid, who performed with his band, The Sharks.
Ford, along with Italian fashion designer Stefano Ricci, was honored with Celebrity Fight Night Awards, given to those who best embody the qualities associated with the late boxing champ and his fight to find a cure Parkinson’s disease.
Founder and chairman Jimmy Walker also presented a gift to Ali’s widow, Lonnie, who was joined on stage by her grandson, Jacob Wertheimer.
Other highlights included McEntire — returning for her 12th year as emcee — reading a letter from Ali’s friend, actor Billy Crystal, who sent regrets or not being able to make this year’s event.
The evening concluded with musical performances by Reba, Brooks & Dunn, Brian McKnight, Colbie Caillat, Sam Moore and Love, who paid tribute to Chuck Berry, who died on Saturday, with a version of Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music.”
Celebrity Fight Night Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, as well as numerous other charities.
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