Kabul, Afghanistan ? Donning a pair of red gloves, Muhammad Ali sparred Monday with two young Afghan boxers in a makeshift ring, throwing punches and handing out gifts on the second day of a goodwill visit to a nation emerging from 23 years of war.

The boxing legend, who serves as a “U.N. Messenger of Peace,” is on a three-day trip to Kabul. Aides say he hopes to keep the international spotlight – and the aid that can come with it – on Afghanistan as it struggles to rebuild its society.

The 60-year-old former heavyweight champion, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, walks slowly and talks softly on the few occasions when he speaks.

But after shaking the hands of 20 young athletes at a mud-walled boxing club – featuring two vintage, framed photos of a younger Ali in the ring – he summoned the strength to pound away at a red and blue punching bag with bare knuckles for a cheering crowd.

Afterward, he watched several young men spar in the ring and later stepped in himself to briefly box with two Afghans.

When one opponent danced quickly about on his toes but threw no punches, Ali wrinkled his forehead, widened his eyes, pursed his lips and pretended to blow his adversary down.

He left after handing out pairs of boxing gloves and boxes of jump ropes.

Earlier, children showered Ali with flower petals during a visit to a U.N.-sponsored girls’ school in western Kabul. Girls were banned from going to school under the former Taliban government, which was ousted in a U.S.-led war late last year.

American boxing legend Muhammad Ali shows his skill during a sparring match with an Afghan boxer in Kabul, Afghanistan. Ali, who was named a U.N. Messenger of Peace in 1998, arrived Sunday in Kabul on a three-day mission.

During his visit, Ali’s aides often spoke for him, sometimes translating his own faint words.

But his sense of humor was clearly intact. As he positioned himself in a chair surrounded by dozens of Afghan girls under a tent, Ali smiled – and pretended to snore – when photographers were slow to take his picture.

At the boxing ring, Ali twice threw up “bunny” fingers behind the heads of oblivious Afghan athletes posing for pictures.

After arriving Sunday, Ali met President Hamid Karzai at the presidential palace. On Monday he also visited a women’s bakery sponsored by the U.N. World Food Program.