Celebrity Fight Night Remembers ‘The Champ’
Celebrity Fight Night continues to honor Muhammad Ali’s good work in the Valley and the contributions he made in the fight against Parkinson’s disease.
The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital is now the most comprehensive Parkinson’s facility in the country due much to the support of Celebrity Fight Night, which would not be possible without Ali’s participation amidst the struggle of his disease.
“He sacrificed his own time to make appearances because he cared, and he never gave up,” says Jimmy Walker, Celebrity Fight Night founder. “He never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him, since he certainly did not feel sorry for himself.”
Ali, Walker and Abraham Lieberman, M.D., established the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in 1997. The center is funded by donations, with Celebrity Fight Night as its primary funding source. Its original facility was 5,000 square feet. With the largest donation in its history in 2012 from Celebrity Fight Night, the center began expanding and is now more than 25,000 square feet.
Walker says Ali’s active participation in Celebrity Fight Night attracted celebrities from all over the world, who join together for one night every year in Phoenix to raise money for many worthy causes, primarily the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center. Since 1997, Ali missed only one event in almost 20 years. Even this past year on April 9, Ali was there to raise money and shake hands. Thanks to Ali, the fundraising event has raised more than $120 million throughout its 22-year history.
Ali didn’t stop there. He would often visit with patients at the Parkinson Center, giving them encouragement. The Greatest also regularly joined Celebrity Fight Night for visits to feed the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul in downtown Phoenix, and he visited the corporate offices of large financial supporters of Celebrity Fight Night just to say thank you in person.
“He wanted to make a difference,” Walker says. “Muhammad wanted to be at everything so people knew he appreciated them and cared about them, and don’t forget, he did this and so much more all while living with the daily struggles of a debilitating disease for which there was no cure.”
PHOTO COURTESY CELEBRITY FIGHT NIGHT
