It was Herbert Muhammad who approached Bob Arum with the idea.
Yes, Muhammad Ali's Manager...........
Herbert Muhammad felt {knew} that Muhammad Ali was probably going to lose
to Kenny Norton, so they wanted to 'cash in' before the September 1976 bout
in Yankee Stadium.
Bob Arum brought in Vince McMahon Sr. to 'script the bout'.
Yes, Muhammad Ali was 'scamming the public' again..........
That is why he loses all respect, from the real people.
CITATION PLEASE AND I BELIEVE ONE OF THE EDITORS AT THIS SITE CAUGHT YOU IN ANOTHER, SHALL I SAY POLITELY, MISSTATEMENT, ERGO:
Yep, sorry Il Duce but you're wrong AGAIN!
As Thatone correctly said..the 'Superfight' was directed by Murray Woroner. The Technical Director was Hank Kaplan.
SteveO wrote:Yep, sorry Il Duce but you're wrong AGAIN!
As Thatone correctly said..the 'Superfight' was directed by Murray Woroner. The Technical Director was Hank Kaplan.
Il Duce wrote:
I stand corrected.........and will hang my head low in shame,,,,,,,,,,,
I was talking about the Re-Edited version,,,,,
So Sir,,,,,You Are Wrong Again
Everybody knows the 'original' was done by Woroner Productions.
That's okay - anyone can make a mistake
Everybody knows that the 2005 issued 136min DVD was done by Mike De Lisa - of which 'The Superfight' was PART of the content!
Considering Foreman/Ali was like $5,000,000 split the $6,000,000+ in Tokyo was something that couldn't be refused. Originally it was to be a work--- however, the truth is Inoki wasn't going into it like that either---- he trained purposely for the fight that whenever Ali came close, he would drop to his back and kick, or throw a round house kick to Ali's legs. Ali somewhere between the press conference and the day of fight fight was told by Freddie Blassie that Ali had to watch his back cus if Inoki wanted to take liberities, he could and would. So Ali went into it like it was a real fight.
How it wound up being a 15 round draw I will never know, considering Ali thrown 6 punches in 15 rounds and landed only 2 of them, while Inoki kicked the living shit out of him.
I actually have an MMA book somewhere were this fight is talked about in detail as it was going to be the first majorly televised mixed rules fight and I will have a re-read of that section but from what I remember Ali originally thought it was going to be a work, Inoki knew it wasn't going to be and was training to put the fight straight onto the mat and dominate Ali there. When Ali and his management found out that it wasn't going to be a work they had the rules changed to stop Inoki wrestle fornicating him. There was no way Inoki a wrestler was going to stand across from Ali and try to fight him there, So he decided that he would drop down and kick his legs. Terrible idea for a fight if it wasn't going to be a work. As I have mentioned in previous threads in a hybrid match the guy who has the better wrestling always has the advantage because he can dictate where the fight takes place, Ali would of had nothing more than a small punchers chance in this kind of match as would any boxer around at that time, Though I feel that a physical freak like Foreman could throw a good wrestler off him even though he didn't have the technique. The Japanese shoot wrestlers back then had very legitimate catch wrestling skills back then regardless of the fights being fake, Also at the time IIRC the Japanese fans did not know that it was fake either.
Lot's of changes in the Rules of Engagement prior to this bout.
No way was Antonio Inoki going to be allowed to lose in Japan.
Antonio could have ended this 'farce' in about 1-Minute if he wanted to,
but that wouldn't have played well in Peoria as we liked to say.
You gave to give them a show, even if it 'sucks'.
No I don't think he could though as the rules were changed to prevent that, there was no way Ali was going to try and outwrestle Inoki with little to no training and no way he should of. It was a dumb fight for everyone involved, It was especially dumb for Ali (though was it really considering the money he made?) to have it be on the level. Just a bad page for boxing and martial arts history. Cross rules fights are great if done right but boxer vs wrestler is just terrible if the boxer doesn't have any wrestling experience all that happens is the boxer has one chance to land a big punch in the opening 10 seconds and if that doesn't happen they he ends up on his back with no chance of getting up.
BoxBuzz wrote:Is this true? I wouldn't doubt that it could be, but is it?
Do you have any sources? Or is this an assumption based on probabilities?
Was the Andre the Giant vs Chuck Wepner also scripted in some way?
if so, My brother is going to want his price of admission back.
Sorry Mr. Box Box..............'NO REFUNDS'
Didn't your brother read the very fine print.........
It was directly under the word........SUCKER
If anybody is going to a Professional Wrestling event expecting to see a REAL fight they're an idiot. Wrestling is often very physical and there's a lot more pain and anguish involved than most people realize, but if anybody thought Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali were REALLY going to go at it, they were fools.
BoxBuzz wrote:Is this true? I wouldn't doubt that it could be, but is it?
Do you have any sources? Or is this an assumption based on probabilities?
Was the Andre the Giant vs Chuck Wepner also scripted in some way?
if so, My brother is going to want his price of admission back.
Sorry Mr. Box Box..............'NO REFUNDS'
Didn't your brother read the very fine print.........
It was directly under the word........SUCKER
If anybody is going to a Professional Wrestling event expecting to see a REAL fight they're an idiot. Wrestling is often very physical and there's a lot more pain and anguish involved than most people realize, but if anybody thought Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali were REALLY going to go at it, they were fools.
Il Liberace didn't speak to his dad for two weeks the winter of 1955 when he told him Santa didn't put his presents under the Christmas tree and he was thirty.
Il Liberace didn't speak to his dad for two weeks the winter of 1955 when he told him Santa didn't put his presents under the Christmas tree and he was thirty.[/quote]
But Muhammad Ali would never pull a 'sham' on his fans, and take their hard earned money.
Given that he was the Professional Wrestler and the one that should've been able to make something out of the event, I'd say Inoki made the event more of a sham than Ali did.
The whole thing was a bad idea to begin with though.
Il Liberace thought wrestling was on the prior to the Ali-Inoki exhibition. All his animus toward the GOAT can be traced to that bout where both participants proved that it wasn't.
But Muhammad Ali would never pull a 'sham' on his fans, and take their hard earned money.
Given that he was the Professional Wrestler and the one that should've been able to make something out of the event, I'd say Inoki made the event more of a sham than Ali did.
The whole thing was a bad idea to begin with though.
I was Ali's hugest fan and never for a second did I think the bout was on the up and up. The only interest like interest in any wrestling match is who the scriptwriters would script as the winner.
My brother attended the Wepner/Andre affair. I think it might have actually had some genuine drama.
Looked like Wepner was putting his best into those shots, and the Giant just decided to dump him...lol.
I don't think anyone from boxing paid any attention the Ali Inoki affair. Except for Ol' Duce, It was all about the rasslers on that one. Duce must be a rasslin' fan.
Seems bizarre that he did this. And crazy that his advisers didn't stop it.
Ali was a walking cash generating machine by 1976 & if they weren't pushing him to have endless fights, they were pushing him into spurious exhibitions like the Inoki nonsense.
