Celebrities and sports have honoured Muhammad Ali at a Sports for Peace charity gala in London, ahead of London 2012.

Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton paid tribute to the sports legend: "The difficulties he came across and for another sportsman, you need other people, greats like him to lead the way and show that it can be possible."

Boxer Vladimir Klitskho, who gave a speech at the event, called Ali an "inspiration".

He also said: "I will compare him to Rocky, that he always comes up, fights back and at the end of the day he's standing as a winner and failure is not an option to him."

Tickets for the event cost between £2,000 and £2,500, and was raising money for the educational Muhammad Ali Center and for research into Parkinson's disease.

The former boxer has had the degenerative condition for many years.

An after dinner auction proved successful with winning bids including £12,000 for Olympics opening ceremony tickets, £20,000 for earrings designed by Angelina Jolie and Robert Procop, £21,000 for a tennis lesson with Boris Becker and £50,000 for a weekend of driving with Lewis Hamilton.