Muhammad Ali - Antonio Inkoi ~ 'Scorecards'

[gilgamesh]

Scorecards? Who gives a sh*t what the scorecards were for one guy standing up and one guy crawling around like a crab.

[BoxBuzz]

Il Duce, I'm with you, it's very important that judges are trained to excell in their scoring skills in such important encounters. If you had been there to assist.....I suspect that event would have benefited greatly.

[HomicideHenry]

Being a pro wrestling buff as well as a boxing fanatic, I've read quite a few accounts on the whole ordeal that was 'Ali-Inoki'. First, from what I have gathered to be the truth--- is that Antonio Inoki actually prepared for this pseudo-exhibition as the real deal; the Ali myth that Inoki was scared shitless and crab walked the whole time out of fear is bullshit. Ali, came into the contest thinking it was just a show--- but Freddie Blassie informed Ali to treat it as if it was a real fight, because the Japanese community (as well as the wrestling community) would take any and all advantages over Ali if the opprotunity presented itself.

Originally, what was to happen, in terms of the match was that Vince McMahon was going to be the referee for the contest--- and sometime during the contest, would come up to Ali, blade him, and stop the fight on a cut--- making Inoki the winner. But when Vince McMahon Senior caught wind of it, he put Vince Junior on commentary for the Andre/Wepner contest at Shea Stadium. Therefore, Gene LeBell was put in place to do the refereeing of the contest instead, because Gene was no stranger to this sort of match up (Savage/LeBell) and was a straight shooter to ensure no misgivings would take place.

It was hoped that the event would be a success and that more 'mixed martial arts' battles would take place in wrestling--- however, the tactics Inoki used, and the fact Ali was nervous about Inoki possibly pulling a take down on him and making him look bad, combined with the unusual rules; lead to one of the most boring contests in wrestling history. Ali came out $6,000,000 richer and wound up having to have an operation to remove blood clots from his legs--- and Inoki became a legend, and would have subsequent 'mma' matches with Chuck Wepner and others (albeit those would be fake) and later become one of the forefathers of the legitimite mma movement in Japan (PRIDE).

I will say this, though, how Ali EVER got a draw against Inoki I will never know--- because the fact remains after fifteen rounds, forty five minutes of fighting, he only threw six punches (landing two) while Inoki kicked the dog shit out of him and even pulled a few take down moves and forced clinches. Gene was awful liberal in his judging of a draw on the basis that Ali was able to defend himself against Inoki's kicks--- a gift decision if there ever was one; points taken away or not. If the match happened today, with as big as the UFC is and a complete understanding of rules, there's no way in hell does Muhammad Ali come close to a draw--- in fact, he'd lose every single round.

[Controversial]

It was was it was, a sham to make lots of money.

[The Great John L]

I'm ashamed to say that I actually paid money to see this. Inoki did indeed spend a great deal of the time on the canvas trying to get angles on Ali, who did throw very few punches and only landed a few jabs. As I recall the only contact Inoki made were some pretty solid kicks to Ali's left leg, including one that caused Ali to go down. At the end of the "fight" Ali had some pretty bad discoloration and swelling to his left leg.

More interesting was the match between Andre and Wepner. I remember the two clinching and then Wepner actually hit Andre a few times in the head with his patented rabbit punches that appeared to stun the big guy who proceeded to pick Wepner and drop him out of the ring.

Not a great evening for boxing.

[HomicideHenry]

I'm ashamed to say that I actually paid money to see this. Inoki did indeed spend a great deal of the time on the canvas trying to get angles on Ali, who did throw very few punches and only landed a few jabs. As I recall the only contact Inoki made were some pretty solid kicks to Ali's left leg, including one that caused Ali to go down. At the end of the "fight" Ali had some pretty bad discoloration and swelling to his left leg.

More interesting was the match between Andre and Wepner. I remember the two clinching and then Wepner actually hit Andre a few times in the head with his patented rabbit punches that appeared to stun the big guy who proceeded to pick Wepner and drop him out of the ring.

Not a great evening for boxing.

I interviewed Chuck last year on the ATGRADIO show, and asked him point blank whether it was all a fix or not (as some boxing fans/wrestling fans want to push the story it was a shoot) and he admitted it was all pre-arranged. What I find interesting, though, is Wepner's involvement in wrestling didn't stop there--- as I mentioned before, he had a 'mixed match' with Inoki, which appeared very real until the conclusion (Inoki did a cartwheel kick, then slapped on a boston crab submission). Wepner in later years was also a judge for the 1998 BRAWL FOR ALL tournament and was a judge at Wrestlemania 15 for the disasterous Gunn/Butterbean fight.

[The Great John L]

I'm ashamed to say that I actually paid money to see this. Inoki did indeed spend a great deal of the time on the canvas trying to get angles on Ali, who did throw very few punches and only landed a few jabs. As I recall the only contact Inoki made were some pretty solid kicks to Ali's left leg, including one that caused Ali to go down. At the end of the "fight" Ali had some pretty bad discoloration and swelling to his left leg.

More interesting was the match between Andre and Wepner. I remember the two clinching and then Wepner actually hit Andre a few times in the head with his patented rabbit punches that appeared to stun the big guy who proceeded to pick Wepner and drop him out of the ring.

Not a great evening for boxing.

I interviewed Chuck last year on the ATGRADIO show, and asked him point blank whether it was all a fix or not (as some boxing fans/wrestling fans want to push the story it was a shoot) and he admitted it was all pre-arranged. What I find interesting, though, is Wepner's involvement in wrestling didn't stop there--- as I mentioned before, he had a 'mixed match' with Inoki, which appeared very real until the conclusion (Inoki did a cartwheel kick, then slapped on a boston crab submission). Wepner in later years was also a judge for the 1998 BRAWL FOR ALL tournament and was a judge at Wrestlemania 15 for the disasterous Gunn/Butterbean fight.

Well they needed a better script writer, because while it was more interesting than the Ali-Inoki match even a Wlad-Ruiz fight would have been more interesting than that. It didn't last very long and the only "action" was the aforementioned clinching, a few rabbit punches and then Andre dropping him over the top rope. Pretty lame. I can't imagine why somone would arrange matches like those and then make them so terribly boring.

I'd like to see the Wepner-Inoki match because a cartwheel kick and Boston crab sounds more like what should happen in an arranged match.

[HomicideHenry]

Well they needed a better script writer, because while it was more interesting than the Ali-Inoki match even a Wlad-Ruiz fight would have been more interesting than that. It didn't last very long and the only "action" was the aforementioned clinching, a few rabbit punches and then Andre dropping him over the top rope. Pretty lame. I can't imagine why somone would arrange matches like those and then make them so terribly boring.

I'd like to see the Wepner-Inoki match because a cartwheel kick and Boston crab sounds more like what should happen in an arranged match.

All I can say is Chuck was a horrible actor lol, when it came to taking the dive.

Don't get me wrong up until that point the thing looked 100% real, until Inoki threw the cart wheel kick (which didnt even touch Wepner). Chuck acted as if he was hit by a bus, yet fell incredibly slow to the canvas, and then Inoki slapped the boston crab submission on him and Chuck tapped out.

The match would have been all the more better (imho) had they kept going the way they were and went to the scorecards, rather than do that ridiculous finish. But, I guess I can understand why Chuck never did get the part of 'Chink Webber' in ROCKY II because he couldn't act for shit.