More Ali-Lou Ruvo coverage
Boosted by a $1,500-per-plate minimum price for a seat and a $1.1 million bid on a pair of famed boxing gloves, the Keep Memory Alive “Power of Love Gala” honoring Muhammad Ali's 70th birthday Saturday night raised more than $11 million.
Proceeds from the star-studded, nearly-six-hour gala benefited the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in downtown Las Vegas and the Muhammad Ali Center in the boxer's hometown of Louisville, Ky.
A crowd of 2,000 stars of entertainment and sports (especially boxing) and assorted dignitaries turned out for one of the city’s greatest nights of philanthropy and celebrity.
A highlight of the evening was a bidding battle between Station Casinos and UFC exec Lorenzo Fertitta and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. The prizes were a the gloves Ali wore in his 1965 heavyweight title defense against Floyd Patterson and a poster from that fight.
After the bidding appeared to have closed with Fertitta having won the lot with a $750,000 bid, Jones lofted a $1 million offer. Fertitta countered with $1.1 million.
A two-hour version of the show will be broadcast at 4 p.m. on KXNT Channel 13 and again at 10 p.m. on ESPN 2.
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