Muhammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki

Yeah, that was a doozy. Didn't Ali get damaged legs in one way or another due to Inoki consistently lying on his back and kicking at them?

 

Muhammad Ali totally ducked Giant Baba and Harley Race, both ranked much higher by every major Wrestling publication at the time of this fight.

 

Yeah, but the Beefcake avoided every black, east asian, and Irish contender. That's two strikes out of three against Ali, no way Brutus is defending against him.

 

Farce? Who doesn't use this as a resume builder for Ali? I don't care if he got a draw. It's his third best win behind Frazier and Foreman. The Liston win didn't count because the mafia and NIA threatened Islam to stay down or he'd have to pay. That got him letter when they stuck him with needles!

 

It's not surprising Ali had a thing for pro wrestling. He was a great admirer of Gorgeous George and admits he stole George's habit of self-promotion with his "I Am The Prettiest And The Greatest" shtick.

Before his match with Inoki, Ali had some exhibition bouts with wrestlers and was also windmilled by Gorilla Monsoon. That one may be on YouTube.

 

Prime Hogan is 50/50 against Ali IMO

 

Yes Inoki spent almost the whole fight on his back kicking at ali's legs whenever he came close. The blood vessels in his legs, especially his lead left leg had been ruptured so bad they had to be drained of almost a quart of blood. I read somewhere that he also had to be hospitalised for blood clots and muscle damage when he returned to the us.

 

Antonio's no joke, beat Bob Backlund and Andre The Giant.

 

Horrid match. I don't know why Ali was so against doing a job to Inoki. I haven't watched the whole thing, but Inoki did take Ali down in one of those rounds. Thankfully for Ali, the ref broke them before some serious damage was done.

 

he said such trickery went against his muslim teachings. i think it's bull**** but it would have sent his stock as "best fighter on the planet" or whatever plummeting

 

Talking about Boxer Wrestler matches, anyone seen this
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OeABCzal-w[/ame]