Muhammed Ali vs Martial Artist

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Of course the match was real, not fixed, other than the fact that Inoki had a TON of restrictions placed on him beforehand. Basically, he was not allowed to do a lot of things. Thus on the rare occasion(s) when they went to the ground (with Ali looking totally helpless), referee Gene LeBell jumped in and broke them up. The rules were essentially in place to protect Ali. Inoki was clearly the bigger and stronger of the two, and I’m convinced that in a match that allowed both of them to play to their full strengths, Inoki would most likely have beaten Ali, fairly quickly. But Ali was an icon and, let’s be real here, a cash cow for MANY people who needed to protect their income.

Most of the time, whenever wrestlers and boxers have been matched against each other, the wrestlers beat the boxers. Although I remember seeing a match back in the early '70s between a boxer and a wrestler, where the boxer quickly KO’d the wrestler. I don’t know who they were, if they were top guys in their respective sports or not, or if the wrestler had a real amateur background or was strictly a pro wrestler. But mostly it goes to the wrestlers.

Prior to the Ali/Inoki fight, Ali was at a press conference in L.A., and heavyweight karate champion Joe Lewis, who had a wrestling background, was there. The subject of shooting in/taking down came up. Ali invited Lewis into the ring to demonstrate how he would take him down. Lewis faked a high punch, then shot in and (gently) took Ali down. Ali’s people were nervous. They tried it a second time, same result, with Ali on his back. Even though Lewis was taking it easy, Ali’s people pulled him off of Ali. Ali was surprised by Lewis’s strength, noting that Lewis had weight trained. Grapplers in general tend to be stronger than most straight-up boxers anyway, due to the nature of their sport.

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Greetings,

[QUOTE=Jimbo;1294710]
Prior to the Ali/Inoki fight, Ali was at a press conference in L.A., and heavyweight karate champion Joe Lewis, who had a wrestling background, was there. The subject of shooting in/taking down came up. Ali invited Lewis into the ring to demonstrate how he would take him down. Lewis faked a high punch, then shot in and (gently) took Ali down. Ali’s people were nervous. They tried it a second time, same result, with Ali on his back. Even though Lewis was taking it easy, Ali’s people pulled him off of Ali. Ali was surprised by Lewis’s strength, noting that Lewis had weight trained. Grapplers in general tend to be stronger than most straight-up boxers anyway, due to the nature of their sport.[/QUOTE]

I would have LOVED to have seen that. A few years before that, Joe Frazier did something similar to Ali after Ali referred to Joe Frazier as “ignorant” during a commentary session on one of their fights. I remember that Joe Frazier had to be pulled off the guy. Even then, Ali did not learn the lesson.

mickey

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[QUOTE=mickey;1294712]Greetings,

I would have LOVED to have seen that. A few years before that, Joe Frazier did something similar to Ali after Ali referred to Joe Frazier as “ignorant” during a commentary session on one of their fights. I remember that Joe Frazier had to be pulled off the guy. Even then, Ali did not learn the lesson.

mickey[/QUOTE]

mickey,

Although he wasn’t my favorite fighter to watch, IMO, Ali was a truly great fighter in an era of great fighters, in the boxing ring. However, in a mixed-style match, and most likely out on the street/out of his element, his skills didn’t really adapt well and he seemed extremely out of place. Contrast him to people like George Foreman, Sonny Liston, etc., who he beat in the ring, but who had considerable street fighting experience even before boxing, and who would almost certainly have fared much better than Ali outside of an organized boxing bout.

Ali seemed well aware of that. I heard a story about Ali/Cassius Clay in his youth (probably pre-Olympics) in which a street fighter/bully kept bothering him to fight on the street. So one day, Ali finally invited the other kid to the boxing gym and basically said, ‘We can do it in the ring’. If I remember correctly, Ali put on a boxing clinic and made a fool out of him, after which he never bothered Ali again. I think the story ended by Ali’s trainer saying that Ali had taken a big chance, that the other kid would have demolished him in a street brawl, but that Ali was aware of that, and smart enough to know that in the boxing ring, he could run circles around the other kid and box his ears off. And that was enough to scare the other kid off him.

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Our winners are announced!

See our WINNERS: Ali vs. Inoki by Josh Gross thread.

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Yi Long vs Leduc

3 days ago
Shaolin Monk Yi Long To Take Part In A Knockout Only Fight
Ryan Sidle in UFC

Conor McGregor and Tenshin Nasukawa aren’t the only ones that can move sports. Shaolin Monk Yi Long is set to face a Lethwei fighter named ‘the most dangerous man in combat sports.’

Changing sports is all the rage these days with kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa set to drop his kicking prowess in order to face Floyd Mayweather in the ring following on from Conor McGregor’s own move into boxing and Usain Bolt’s attempt at becoming a footballer.

However that’s nothing compared to one kickboxer Yi Long. The Shaolin Monk’s most recent kickboxing fight came against 7ft-2 super heavyweight Hong Man Choi, Long is a 5ft-10 middleweight, but resulted in the smaller man coming out on top.

//youtu.be/ERHJzb4yozE

continued next post

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Continued from previous post

As if that wasn’t enough he is now set to face ‘the most dangerous man in combat sports,’ Dave Leduc.

Leduc is known by his impressive moniker for taking part in the Lethwei discipline, where Leduc is the king of the brutal sport.

Lethwei is known as the world’s most brutal sport because the only way to win is by knockout and headbutts are allowed and there’s no gloves. You either win by KOing your opponent inside five rounds or it’s a draw.

Leduc is set to fight in his sport on December 9th but could next move to MAS to take on The Shaolin Monk, according to Muay Thai Authority.

//youtu.be/XmZOnlI0hSU

continued next post

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All these crossover fights are hardly anything new. Muhammad Ali travelled to Japan to take on Antonio Inoki in a hybrid fight in the 1976.

Back in 1976 Ali travelled to Japan to face wrestler Antonio Inoki in a ‘special rules’ match that was essentially the beginning of MMA as a thing.

The pair fought in a 15 round fight that Ali initially thought was a professional wrestling style ‘worked’ match but soon found out was a legit contest.

Everyone will be hoping that whatever the rules of the Mayweather vs Nasukawa fight are it’ll be a more interesting one than Ali and Inoki’s match up, with the Japan Times describing it as, “The 15-round contest was pretty much a bore from start to finish. Ending in a draw, it proved once again that when an apple fights an orange, the results can only be a fruit salad.”


Inoki lands another kick on Muhammad Ali. Image: PA Images

The fight has become infamous for the image of the Japanese man lying on the ground and aiming kicks at the former Olympic champion whilst Ali, then the WBC and WBA heavyweight boxing champion, was only able to land six punches.

Inoki led the scorecards by three points, which seems very a small lead considering how much his opponent was actually able to do, but was docked three points during the fight so it ended a tie.

//youtu.be/rNY6qjFKrF8

The kicks that landed to Ali’s leg led to bleeding and became infected, nearly leading to the American to have his leg amputated.

At the end of the fight fans were so unimpressed that the Nippon Budokan was littered with rubbish that the crowd had thrown towards the ring.

Had to cut this up to get all the vids in.

THREADS: Muhammed Ali vs Martial Artist
Shaolin fighter Yi Long

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RIP Antonio Inoki

Pro-wrestler, politician and hostage negotiator Antonio Inoki dies at 79
October 1, 20224:01 PM ET
JULIANA KIM
Former professional wrestler Antonio Inoki shouts at a press conference in Tokyo on August 21, 2014.
Yoshikazu Tsuno /AFP via Getty Images

Antonio Inoki was revered for never being afraid of a challenge — whether it was dueling heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali or negotiating the release of hostages with the Iraqi government. That’s why he was often called “the fighting spirit that burns.”

Inoki died at age 79 after battling a rare disease called amyloidosis, his company, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, announced on Saturday.

“His achievements, both in professional wrestling and the global community are without parallel and will never be forgotten,” the professional wrestling group wrote in a statement.

Kanji “Antonio” Inoki was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1943 but spent most of his childhood in Brazil where his family relocated. There, Inoki found a passion for professional wrestling and took on the name “Antonio.”

He was soon recruited by Rikidozan, one of the the most famous Japanese wrestlers of all time, and returned to Tokyo to join the Japanese Wrestling Association.

Inoki quickly became widely popular for his versatility and charisma in the ring. Years later, he went on to start his own wrestling company in 1972 called New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Inoki’s reached global fame in 1976 when he faced Muhammad Ali in a rare wrestler vs. boxer match in Tokyo. The match became credited for pioneering what is known today as mixed martial arts, where a fighter is allowed to use any style of combat.


Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali fighting the champion Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki at Budokan Hall in Tokyo in 1976.
Keystone/Getty Images

Off the ring, Inoki was known for his attempts to forge peace and diplomacy through sports.

In 1990, Inoki was instrumental in freeing 36 Japanese hostages held in Iraq.

During his lifetime, the late wrestler also made more than 30 trips to North Korea, serving as one of Japan’s few links to the authoritarian regime. Most notably, Inoki organized two large sporting extravaganza — one in 1995 and another in 2014 — held in Pyongyang to garner international attention.

The first event, known as “Collision in Korea” drew nearly 380,000 spectators and was considered the biggest-pay-per-view in pro-wrestling history.

In 1998, Inoki retired as a wrestler and in 2010, he was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame. He is technically considered WWE’s first-ever Japanese world champion but that title is not yet recognized by the organization.

“Antonio Inoki was among the most respected men in sports-entertainment and a bona fide legend in his homeland,” WWE wrote in a statement. “This passion for competition earned him the nickname “Moeru Toukon” amongst his peers, which translates to ‘The fighting spirit that burns.’”

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