Sammartino was not a good soldier in promoting the main event. Even though WWWF and McMahon by this point had a business relationship with Inoki, supplying him talent, Sammartino was loyal to the other side of the war in Japan. He considered Baba a personal friend, and never liked Inoki, stemming from working with both during the '60s. To show how valuable McMahon felt Sammartino was, he had become the U.S. booker for talent to New Japan, but his biggest star and champion, the guy who Inoki would most want to face at the time, refused to go. Sammartino told McMahon that he would never work in opposition to Baba. McMahon still never considered switching the title.
Sammartino also didn’t like Ali. He felt Ali was a racist when he would talk about interracial marriage on television. When they did meet, it didn’t go well. There was the challenge at the boxing dinner as well as the fact that for every kid growing up in the Northeast, they had at some point gotten into a schoolyard debate over who would win a fight, Sammartino or Ali.
Once, in Philadelphia when both were doing interviews, Ali was talking about how he could beat any wrestler.
“He looked at me, and said, `and I know I could beat Sammartino, too.’ I said, `There’s a ring over there, why don’t you try it.’ Probably, he was just clowning. But I wasn’t a big fan of him, right or wrong. I had seen something about him. He came to Pittsburgh to make a speech and he came across as too much of a racist. He was condemning black men or women who would marry white men or women. He bragged about how he had all kinds of women, but he would never touch a white woman. To me, that was pretty racist. I didn’t know how to take the guy. I respected him as a boxer. I watched a lot of his fights. I don’t believe he was the greatest fighter who ever lived, because I’d seen Joe Louis fight on tape. I saw Ali fight Doug Jones, a light heavyweight, and Doug Jones beat him. The people booed like hell when they raised Ali’s hand, and that was before his suspension. He lost to (Leon) Spinks, lost to (Trevor) Berbick, who weren’t great fighters. Joe Frazier, those were tough fights, great fights, and he did well, but he lost once to him. The guy that nobody ever talks about anymore is the guy who never lost a fight, Rocky Marciano, 49-0 with 43 knockouts. But I hate when people make comparisons, about so-and-so being the greatest because you don’t know. Maybe Ali could have beaten Louis. Maybe a guy like Ali would have beaten him on points, you don’t know.”
Sammartino, when asked about the fight in media interviews beforehand, said that he considered Inoki a third-rate wrestler, that Baba was considered the real champion by the Japanese people, but also that he believed a wrestler would beat a boxer.
The rule changes didn’t take place until the days before the fight.
In an interview Sammartino did right before the fight started, with Bill Apter, that was released for the first time this past week, he said, “I really resent the rules. It’s not fair to say it’s a fighter against a wrestler. The demands that Ali has made, it’s like Inoki is handcuffed and his legs cuffed as well. Ali can hit him when he’s down. The wrestler can’t put on any punishing holds. He’s not allowed to slam him. I resent they (Inoki’s side) went for such rules. If Ali should win, they’ll say that a boxer beat a wrestler, when it really was a boxer beat a handcuffed man who wasn’t allowed to do anything.”
Most of the fight was Inoki laying on his back and kicking at Ali’s legs. In those days, there was no kickboxing in the U.S., let alone MMA. Nobody understood leg kicks. In Japan they didn’t really understand it either. Watching the fight today, while still a terrible fight, Inoki clearly won. Inoki landed 78 kicks to Ali’s legs, which swelled up and bruised up badly. Sammartino recalled them putting lotion on Ali’s legs to prevent the swelling from getting bad and that only made it more difficult for Inoki to grab them without slipping off. Ali landed six punches in 15 rounds. Inoki noted later that while the fight was a bomb, he considered it the high point of his career, sharing the ring for 15 rounds with Ali and putting himself in danger of fighting the best boxer in the world. Others weren’t nearly as kind, feeling that both fighters never put themselves in any danger.
Sammartino noted that when the tape came out this past week, he’s heard that people were very critical of his commentary. But in 1976, that is exactly what everyone thought of the fight. By round 11, Sammartino said they should suspend both men’s fighting license. By round 13, Sammartino said they should withhold both men’s purses because they were cheating the public. At the conclusion, he said, “I would arrest them both. It was the most disgusting, disgusting, I can’t even come up with the words. They should both be barred from being in the ring again. They should both be suspended and fined ugly.”
Four decades later, he said, “I listened to it (his commentary) since it was new to me (Sammartino said it was so long ago he’d forgotten he and Apter had done the tape in the dugout of Shea Stadium watching on the big screens), and it came back to me. To be perfectly honest, whether anybody agrees or disagrees, that thing was horrendous. You were a kid. I wasn’t a kid. I was wrestling that night. I was older than both Inoki and Ali were. I’m there watching and I was frustrated. Here’s the great opportunity where wrestling could gain some real respect and it was wasted. I believed that a wrestler will beat a fighter any day. And I still believe that, without question.”
Not much happened in the fight. Inoki mostly stayed on his back and stayed away. In the fifth round, he clinched and went for a takedown but Ali grabbed the ropes immediately to break it. In the sixth round, Inoki got a takedown, but Ali again grabbed the ropes. Frustrated, Inoki threw an elbow, which was illegal and was docked a point.
In the seventh, Inoki tripped Ali, but Ali scrambled up on his own before Inoki could cover him.
In the tenth round, Inoki got inside and clinched, but Ali again grabbed the ropes.
In the 13th round, the most eventful, Inoki charged at Ali, but Ali was against the ropes. Ali then made faces at Inoki and stuck out his tongue. Inoki grabbed Ali in a position for a Greco-Roman back suplex, the Lou Thesz finisher, but that move was illegal to begin with, and Ali grabbed the ropes right away. Karl Gotch, Inoki’s trainer and second, who was 52 at the time but still thought by everyone in Japan and insiders as the guy who would have destroyed both of them in a real fight, glared at Ali after Ali grabbed his fist and seemingly threatened him. In another clinch, Inoki kneed Ali in the groin. Both knees and groin strikes were illegal. Ali went to ref Gene LeBell and started cursing, saying it was bullshyt. Ali mad, threatened to walk out right there. LeBell grabbed Ali and told him to return to the ring, and tried to joke telling him he can’t leave, “Because I’ve got money on you.” Ali wasn’t amused. Ali was mad and threw two punches that landed in that round before Inoki dropped to his back and started kicking at Ali’s legs for the rest of the round.
Ali threw his best punch in the 14th round. Little or nothing happened in the 15th round and it was over.
The scores were then read. Judge Kokichi Endo, the pro wrestling judge (Endo was a major star as Rikidozan’s tag team partner in the early days of Japanese wrestling) scored it 74-72 for Ali. Boxing judge Kou Toyama scored is 72-68 for Inoki. The third judge was LeBell, who, because of deducting points from Inoki in the sixth round for the illegal elbow, the eighth round for reasons nobody seems to recall, and the 13th round for the low blow, had a 71-71 scorecard and the fight was ruled a draw.
Around the U.S. fans were furious. Not only was the fight terrible, but nobody won.
Ironically, viewed today, with knowledge of leg kicks, Inoki would have probably won 12 of the 15 rounds.
In most of the U.S. the show was considered a bomb. There were about 250,000 tickets sold in closed-circuit locations around the country. Still, there is no question this promotion was the predecessor for both the first Starrcade promote by Jim Crockett Jr., seven years later, and the first WrestleMania promoted by the son of Vince McMahon nine years later. The big difference was that the current Vince McMahon has his own television all over the country and promoted the show like crazy. It connected more with wrestling fans, even though it didn’t draw the boxing fan audience that Ali vs. Inoki did.
It was promoted ten times as effectively, and had even more mainstream coverage because of Mr. T, Cyndi Lauper, Ali and Billy Martin.
They sold 400,000 closed circuit tickets, but that show was promoted ten times as effectively. In St. Louis, which was a wrestling capital, both shows ended up about the same, doing almost identical crowds of 3,000 at Kiel Auditorium. The idea the numbers were even close when the local promoters were for the most part not behind the show was astounding, which largely speaks to the popularity of pro wrestling in 1976 and Ali’s drawing power with sports fans. That’s even with much of the boxing establishment ridiculing the fight, and the general media feeling was that it wouldn’t be real.
Lawsuits followed, as Ali ended up only getting $2 million for the fight. Inoki was promised $1.8 million, but ended up getting $400,000. New Japan was reeling. Instead of being the nail in Baba’s coffin and the ascension of Inoki into Japan’s biggest sports star and national hero, and pro wrestling’s biggest worldwide name, he was the guy who laid on his back for 15 rounds, regardless of the rules. Still, Inoki kept winning his pro wrestling matches. New Japan brought in boxers, karate fighters, judo guys and kickboxers for Inoki to beat, including Wepner and later Leon Spinks. Inoki ended up bigger than ever, and New Japan surpassed All Japan for a time. New Japan had a golden period of massive business from 1981 to 1983 as clearly the No. 1 pro wrestling company in the world, build around Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu and the original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama. Running major arenas every night, they sold out 90 percent of their shows in 1982. But as was the case every time Inoki got successful, a scandal brought him back down and threatened the future of the company. Inoki ended up as a huge drawing card in a number of countries around the world, but he never achieved the popularity he had hoped for in the U.S.
Ali was never the same as a boxer. Whether it was the Frazier “Thrilla in Manila,” fight, the long-term wear-and-tear, the kidney problems or the leg damage he took in this fight, or a combination of everything, he was a different fighter when he stepped into the ring with Norton. Many believe Norton won that fight as well. When the fight ended, the announcers calling the fight said they would be very surprised if Norton hadn’t won the championship. But all three judges gave the fight to Ali. Ali never knocked anyone out after the Inoki fight, although he won his next three fights via decision before his upset loss to Spinks.
The fight was largely forgotten in the U.S., except as a point of ridicule. “Remember that time Muhammad Ali fought that Japanese wrestler?” as the answer to trivia questions such as “What was his name?” or “What was the lowest point of Ali’s career?”
In Japan, the fight after a few years of being remembered as a travesty–the crowd at Budokan Hall that destroyed all pro wrestling gate records were every bit as mad at Inoki and Ali as American fans were–it later was viewed by mythical proportions. As great as he really was, Ali became an even greater fighter in hindsight because he became so much larger-than-life. Inoki’s career also became far more legendary because of his decades on top and on television. People who never saw the fight, and only saw photos or read stories about it, heard and were told about how Inoki and Ali went 15 rounds to a draw in the battle of the greatest boxer of all-time against the greatest wrestler. It must have been epic, right? Whether pro wrestling was or wasn’t real, Inoki drew with Ali, he beat Ruska, Wepner, Willie Williams, Spinks and other martial artists. He was viewed as Japan’s greatest fighting machine.
The generation that grew up with that Inoki, and the teachings of people like Gotch, like Kazushi Sakuraba, Masakatsu Funaki, Akira Maeda, Satoru Sayama, Nobuhiko Takada, became the stars and promoters of shoot style pro wrestling. That transitioned into the heyday of MMA and K-1 kickboxing. It would be an overstatement to say Ali vs. Inoki was responsible for all that, but it would be very accurate to say Inoki’s mixed matches, the most famous being with Ali, were the direct cultural reason this all happened.
During the heyday of the Pride Fighting Championships, Inoki was the face of the brand and even though retired, by far its most popular fighter. But things have changed in the last decade. The generation that saw Inoki in his prime and grew up with him got older. The ones who read about his 1976 fights and saw him at the end as a pro wrestler also got older. The generation of kids told by their parents about watching his matches are grown up now and not telling their kids about him, because it’s not their first-hand knowledge.
Now 73, there is a younger generation in Japan who barely knows who he is. But still, to this day, if you ask people in Japan what was the most famous wrestling match of all-time, unless they are very old and remember Rikidozan’s matches with Lou Thesz, Fred Blassie, The Destroyer or The Sharpe Brothers, the answer that will be said most often is Ali vs. Inoki.
But even more, ask people about the first MMA fight in history, and that fight will be mentioned immediately. While it’s far from the case, and in reality shouldn’t even be considered because of what it was truly supposed to be, the fact it even happened made it so.
For the same reason, in recent weeks, with the death of Ali and the book, major media in the U.S. has looked back at this fight as the fight that inspired mixed martial arts. And with the book, the fight may also, 40 years after it happened and was viewed as a farce, be considered one of the most important historical moments that led to and predated the birth of a major sport.
at Fujiwara just tooling this fool
