Ali vs. Inoki (27 page)

As the celebration of Inoki continued, Ali had a turn to offer his thoughts on the man with whom he tested his status as the best fighter on the planet.

“It was 1976 when I fought Antonio Inoki at the Budokan,” Ali said. “In the ring, we were tough opponents. After that, we built love and friendship with mutual respect.
So, I feel a little less lonely now that Antonio has retired. It is my honor to be standing on the ring with my good friend after twenty-two years. Our future is bright and has a clear vision. Antonio Inoki and I put our best efforts into making world peace through sports, to prove there is only one mankind beyond the sexual, ethnical, or cultural differences. It is my pleasure to come here today.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
his is my debut book and I want my first acknowledgment to be that it's taken too long to muster the courage to get this done. I'm glad I finally did. Diving into an important and misunderstood subject, around which I've dedicated myself as a reporter since the year 2000, made it considerably fun and worthwhile.

For introducing me to my terrific literary agent, Nena Madonia, who works under the legendary Jan Miller, my good friend Doug Melville earns the first nod. Doug is one of many friends whom I told this story to well before any publisher expressed interest, and I want to thank all the people in my life who listened to me babble on about it. Almost everyone I spoke with seemed genuinely interested in the tale of Muhammad Ali's forgotten fight with Antonio Inoki, and their piqued curiosity only strengthened my desire to get this done.

Thanks to Glenn Yeffeth at BenBella Books for understanding the depth of the Ali–Inoki tale and agreeing to put his team on this project. I hope I did right by the story.
Thanks to Jason Probst for being a sounding board, editor, and researcher. Thanks to my friend Michael Weber for putting together the book proposal.

A heartfelt tip of the cap to everyone who spoke to me. Quoted or not, the folks who allowed me to engage them were crucial to the story I could tell. Culling memories of great moments in fighting and pro wrestling history is one thing, but several people went above and beyond.

Jimmy Lennon Jr. opened up his childhood memories and family photo archive to me, and I still feel bad about arriving late for our first meeting.

Gene Kilroy, whose morning shave in Tokyo begins this book, was a tremendous asset on the Ali side of the story. Among others, the Ali confidant led me to Bobby Goodman, the hall of fame publicist, whose answers helped me piece together the events of 1976 as they happened. Bobby also passed along some tremendous press photos of Ali and Inoki.

Gene LeBell, whom I've known for many years, allowed me to join him in his office several times as we discussed his recollections of refereeing the match and growing up in Los Angeles. I love that in their bedroom closet, Gene's wife, Midge, still hangs the Keio Plaza Hotel robe that he brought back from Tokyo after that trip. A month after the Ali–Inoki fight they bought a duplex across the street from a park in the San Fernando Valley, and have lived there since. I should also thanks LeBell's right-hand woman, Kellie Cunningham, who puts up with more than she should but, if seeing is believing, wouldn't have it any other way.

Many thanks to Grand Master Jhoon Rhee for his graciousness. Thanks as well to his son, Chun W. Rhee.

I want to acknowledge a truth now. The story I told is close to the full tale but it's not. I scoured newspaper stories and attempted to re-create events as they happened, but it can't be the whole tale because some people connected to it chose not to participate.

Antonio Inoki wouldn't speak to me. Despite expressing through his son-in-law, Simon Inoki, that he would, the great wrestler never came through—a disappointment, but I want to still thank Simon, who passed along DVDs of the match, which I watched nearly thirty times, and shared several hours worth of stories about the most famous face in Japan. Thanks to former Pride executive Hideki Yamamoto, who offered many insights on Inoki, some of which may ring controversial. I was grateful for his perspective about the match, Inoki's history, and the intersection of organized crime and the Japanese fight world.

Unfortunately, boxing promoter Bob Arum decided against engaging with me. I still have lingering questions about the role of Ronald C. Holmes and Lincoln National Productions, Ltd. Hopefully someday we can chat.

The pro wrestling side of this story was not particularly interested in participating. Vince McMahon Jr. and the WWE declined to answer any questions, so I tried other ways to get inside. Dan Madigan, the former WWE writer, was extremely helpful and, as one might expect, a great storyteller. A friend, Yoshi Obayashi, was one of this book's biggest champions and he led me to Dan and others. I'm very grateful.

Dave Meltzer, the great wrestling writer, was instrumental in backfilling the wrestling history. Admittedly I'm not a wrestling fan, and some wondered why I would want to tell such a pro wrestling–heavy story. One of the great results of all this is
I've fostered a new respect for the business, and I'm happy to report that I'm not the snob about it that I used to be.

With that, let me single out media folks. My colleagues. Thanks to Meltzer, Dr. Mike Lano, Bobby Goodman, Kevin Iole, Jeff Wagenheim, Rich Marotta, Bill Caplan, John Hall, and Andrew Malcolm for all your recollections and analysis. I hope you enjoyed the chats as much as I did. Dr. Lano lived and breathed wrestling around the Olympic, and told me one of my favorite anecdotes in the book, about Freddie Blassie's false fangs. There were so many.

Thanks as well to John Nash, Bobby Razak, Bill Viola, Josh Barnett, Maurice Smith, Chuck Wepner, Don Chargin, Art Davie, Rudy Hernández, Ferdie Pacheco, Alan Swyer, Dave Sloane from Honda of Hollywood, Don Fraser, Bernie Yuman, Rami Genauer, the Cauliflower Alley Club, and Ronald A. DiNicola.

Party on and Godspeed to Bas Rutten. One of my earliest mixed martial arts teachers was kind enough to pen the book's great foreword.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge how lucky I was to find the Ali–Inoki story. Somehow, after traveling to Japan twelve times to cover the biggest MMA events in the world from 2000 to 2003, life brought me to a fantastic fight and pro wrestling souvenir shop near the Tokyo Dome. Hanging on my office wall today is the only piece of memorabilia I ever brought back from Japan: a replica poster of the Ali–Inoki match that advertised closed-circuit venues in Riverside, Calif. The poster sells “East Meets West” and features copies of both fighters' signatures. It fascinated me on the spot and I told myself then that someday I'd write a book about this.

–Josh Gross, 2016

INDEX

Page numbers in italics refer to photographs

A

Accu-punch,
108
–
110

Adonis, Adrian,
165

Aldo, Jose,
233

Ali, Belinda,
101
,
102
,
277

Ali, Laila,
277

Ali, Muhammad,
135
–
137
,
139
–
143

affair with Porche,
101
–
103
,
277

blood clots,
226
,
229

“Boxer of the Century” award,
241

bragging,
44
,
227

celebrity,
103
,
244

charisma,
43
,
111
,
271
,
276

children,
101
,
277

competitiveness,
244

confidence before fight,
5
,
6
,
15

energy level,
276
,
277

entourage,
2
,
13
,
106
,
107

hospitalization after fight against Inoki,
229

Inoki, relationship with,
279
,
280

Inoki's retirement, attendance at,
279
,
280

intelligence,
78

invincibility,
2
,
274

Iraq, trip to,
278
,
279

Islam, conversion to,
43
,
86

Islam, support of,
103
,
244

lifestyle,
103

likability,
223
,
276
,
277

Main Street Gym, training at,
74
,
75
,
78
,
79
,
276

marriages,
277
.
See also
Ali, Belinda; Porche, Veronica; Williams, Lonnie

opponents, mocking,
44

Parkinson's disease,
276

physical decline,
273
–
276

poetry,
42
,
63

pro wrestling, interest in,
3
,
5
,
18
,
121
,
171
,
180

publicity,
80
,
81
,
111
–
116
,
273

recuperative powers,
61
–
63
,
85
,
86
,
216

retirement,
275

risk in fighting Inoki,
273

rope-a-dope strategy,
161

“Rumble in the Jungle,”
99
,
101
,
160
,
161
,
277

self–promotion, inspiration for,
40
–
44

South Korea, trip to,
135
,
225
–
228

speed and agility,
61
–
63
,
79
,
274

stamina,
63

“Thrilla in Manila,”
2
,
99
–
103
,
216
,
225

training,
75
,
108
,
109
,
121
,
216
,
230
,
244

vs. Banks (1962),
62
–
64

vs. Berbick (1981),
105
,
266
,
276

vs. Besmanoff (1961),
61
,
62

vs. Cooper (1963),
86

vs. Coopman (1976),
104

vs. Daniels (1962),
74

vs. Dunn (1976),
15
,
106
,
109
,
112

vs. Foreman (1974),
99
,
101
,
160
,
161
,
172
,
187
,
275
,
277

vs. Frazier (1971),
160
,
161

vs. Frazier (1975),
2
,
99
–
103
,
216
,
225
,
273

vs. Holmes (1980),
275

vs. Jones (1963),
225

vs. Lavorante (1962),
84

vs. Liston (1964),
86

vs. Logan (1962),
74

vs. Mathis (1971),
112

vs. Moore (1962),
85

vs. Norton (1976),
109
,
112
,
216
,
230
,
274

vs. Shavers (1977),
274

vs. Spinks (2/15/1978),
262
,
274

vs. Spinks (9/15/1978),
262
,
275

vs. Terrell (1967),
190

vs. Warner (1962),
64

vs. Wepner (1975),
172
,
173

vs. Young (1976),
105
,
106

weight,
84
,
103
,
105
,
106
,
275
,
276

wrestling and martial arts, interest in,
3
,
5
,
18
,
121
,
241

wrestling matches prior to Inoki fight,
115
,
177

“Ali Bomaye” (song),
277

Ali vs. Inoki fight,
142
,
143

announcement of,
4
,
8
,
104
,
105
,
113
,
114

arena,
13
.
See also
Nippon Budokan Hall

arrival of Ali in Tokyo,
1
,
2
,
119
–
122

blocking kicks,
205
–
208
,
210

boxer vs. wrestler expectations,
3
,
5
,
8
,
18
,
179

cheap shots by Inoki,
191
,
193
,
196
,
197
,
209

clinches,
208
,
209
,
214

closed-circuit telecast,
4
,
8
–
11
,
14
,
15
,
113
–
114
,
116
,
152
,
159
–
164
,
167
,
174
–
179
,
185
,
200
,
216
,
219
,
220
,
229

coaches and seconds for Ali,
182
–
185
,
189
,
191
,
196
,
197
,
199
,
205
,
208
,
211
,
216
,
217

coaches and seconds for Inoki,
182
–
184
,
186
,
206

confidence of Ali,
206

confidence of Inoki,
198

contract,
104
,
105
,
116
,
126
–
129
,
160

crab-like stance by Inoki,
185
,
186
,
191

crowd reactions,
181
–
183
,
186
,
187
,
190
,
192
,
194
–
196
,
199
,
200
,
202
,
204
,
212
,
215
,
219
,
220

decision,
218

earnings from,
113

entrance into ring,
182
,
183

face-saving plan,
153
,
154

floor, fighting from by Inoki,
186
–
196
,
198
,
204
,
211
,
218
,
231
,
272

foot of Inoki, twisting by Ali,
205

fouls,
117
,
128
,
192
,
196
–
198
,
209
,
210

frustration of Ali,
189
,
190
,
192
,
197
,
203
,
222

frustration of Inoki,
211
,
215

garments,
12
,
117
,
182
,
183
,
188
,
200

gloves,
116
,
117
,
124
,
157
,
183
,
184
,
217
,
224

groin, kicks to,
128
,
190
,
191
,
193
,
195
,
209
,
210

handshake after last round,
215

handshake before last round,
212

injuries to Ali's legs,
186
,
190
–
192
,
194
–
196
,
198
–
208
,
211
–
212
,
216
,
220
–
222
,
225
–
226
,
229
,
232

injuries to Inoki,
211

introduction of fighters,
183

jabs by Inoki,
211
,
214

Japanese response to,
224

kicks by Ali,
185
,
198
,
199
,
214

kicks by Inoki,
142
,
185
–
192
,
194
–
196
,
199
–
211
,
213
,
214
,
218
,
232

legitimacy of,
3
,
4
,
7
,
10
,
11
,
113
,
114
,
122
–
124
,
152
–
154
,
220
,
221
,
273

low kicks,
191
,
210
,
213
,
232
,
241

meanness of Ali,
189
,
190

odds,
11

officials,
13
,
14
,
33
,
116
–
117
,
143
,
154
,
183
–
184
,
188
,
191
–
193
,
197
,
209
–
210
,
218
,
219
.
See also
LeBell, “Judo” Gene

opinions on,
215
–
218
,
226
,
271
–
273

Pearl Harbor references,
120
,
121
,
152

play-by-play commentary,
185
–
188
,
193
–
196
,
198
–
199
,
201
–
203
,
205
,
207
,
209
,
210
,
212
–
213
,
217
.
See also
Bannister, Frank

post-fight comments by Ali,
217
,
218
,
222

post-fight comments by Inoki,
223
,
224

pre-fight appearance on
The Tonight Show
,
4
–
7
,
273

pre-fight final preparations,
12
,
13

preparation for,
6
,
15
,
105

press conferences in Japan,
121
–
123

press conferences in the U.S.,
104
,
105
,
122
,
139

promotion week,
1
,
2
,
113
–
116

publicity,
112
–
116

punches by Ali,
191
,
193
,
198
,
199
,
203
–
206
,
210
–
215

purse,
7
,
113
,
123
,
222
,
228
,
229

reactions to,
215
–
217
,
252
,
253
,
256

referee,
33
,
116
,
117
,
143
,
154
,
183
,
184
,
188
,
191
–
193
,
197
,
209
,
210
,
218
,
219
.
See also
LeBell, “Judo” Gene

robes,
182
,
183

ropes and corners, Ali's use of,
184
,
191
–
192
,
196
–
197
,
204
,
205
,
208
,
209
,
211

Round 1,
184
–
186

Round 2,
186
–
188

Round 3,
188
–
191

Round 4,
191
–
193

Round 5,
193
–
195

Round 6,
195
–
198

Round 7,
198
–
200

Round 8,
200
,
201

Round 9,
202
,
203

Round 10,
203
,
204

Round 11,
205
,
206

Round 12,
206
–
208

Round 13,
208
–
211

Round 14,
211
,
212