by Philip Haldiman - Mar. 25, 2012 10:08 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

Everybody knows that Muhammad Ali floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

But he can also throw a pretty mean fundraising party.

Celebrity Fight Night has raised more than $70 million since it started in 1994, when celebrities first donned oversize boxing gloves and duked it out for the fight against Parkinson's disease in front of 400 people.

Celebrity Fight Night in Phoenix

Now a mainstay of fundraising events in the Valley, this year the gala set a record with 1,300 people in attendance and raised more than $9.1 million Saturday at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in north Phoenix.

The money raised will go to the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at St. Joseph's Barrow Neurological Institute, as well as other charities.

The 10,000-square-foot facility, established in 1997 and named after the former heavyweight boxing champion, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1984, is on the campus of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.

The progressive disorder of the brain can cause tremors, rigidity, poor posture and coordination, and difficulty performing voluntary movements.

Saturday's Fight Night XVIII was a black-tie affair featuring stars from many walks of life -- athletes, actors and comedians -- mingling with Valley residents. Celebrities like Evander Holyfield, Billy Crystal, Bo Derek and Kurt Warner walked the red carpet.

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Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night targets disease