Ali - The Greatest Of All Time 1942 - 2016

June 26, 1976 - Tokyo, Japan - MUHAMMAD ALI (born: Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.), 34, vs. ANTONIO INOKI. Fight Fiasco: The much publicized American boxer versus Japanese professional wrestler match between Ali and Inoki at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo turned out to be a boring 15-round fiasco. At the time, Ali had come off a knockout victory over R. Dunn in May and was the reigning WBC/WBA Heavyweight Champion. Inoki, who had been taught the art of catch wrestling by legendary wrestler K. Gotch, was staging exhibition fights against champions of various martial arts, in an attempt to show that pro wrestling was the dominant fighting discipline. The fight itself, which was fought under special rules, is seen as a precursor to modern mixed martial arts The result of the fight has been long debated by the press and fans. The rules of the match barred Ali from hitting Inoki on the canvas, so that is where he spent most of the time after making flying leaps at Ali hoping to bring him down so that his wrestling skill would be to his advantage. But when they both stood in the ring Ali could barely reach Inoki with his gloves; both men keeping out of range of the other

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15-round Advantage Barely Barred Boring Bring Budokan Debated Discipline Dominant Dunn Fiasco Fought Gotch Heavyweight Hitting Hoping Inoki Itself Keeping Knockout Leaps Legendary Mixed Muhammad Precursor Publicized Reach Reigning Result Rules Spent Staging Taught Versus Wrestler Wrestling

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