DISCIPLINE GIVES EDGE TO FLOYD
MUHAMMAD ALI thought he would merely be doing some leg-pulling when he agreed to fight Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki.
Instead he almost lost one in the ill-judged cross-code contest – a warning to Floyd Mayweather Junior of the perils of mixing combat sports.
Ali’s fight with Inoki in June 1976 has largely been forgotten and the Tear-up in Tokyo it most certainly wasn’t.
The contest, which nearly ended Ali’s career, came about when he made an idle boast that he would give $1million to any “Oriental fighter” who could beat him.
Step forward Inoki, who was built like a Sumo wrestler and whose trainer used to throw him out of moving cars to toughen him up.
Inoki’s camp put up $6million to make the fight happen at Tokyo’s Budokan stadium and the farce of the century was on. Ali duly went through his trash-talking repertoire, warning Inoki: “I could make you sleep on the canvas within 10 minutes.”
The only problem for Ali was that Inoki spoke no English and just grinned back at him like the James Bond villain Jaws.
Inoki had a crutch delivered to Ali, which the world heavyweight champ took to their press conference, to keep the joke going. Ali assumed the bout would be nothing more than a gentle exhibition to entertain the fans. However, like his trashtalking, something got badly lost in translation.
Having been banned under the terms of the fight contract from any standing kicks or throws, Inoki spent most of the fight lying on his back, trying to kick Ali.
A bemused Ali beckoned Inoki to stand up and fight, but the Japanese remained on the canvas, snapping at his legs like some deranged crab.
At the beginning of the eighth round, Ali’s bamboozled corner accused Inoki of hiding something hard in his boots.
Ironically, Inoki had considered slipping in some steel plates because, as he put it, “they hadn’t made any rules about that” before deciding against it.
The farce of a fight dragged on for the full 15 rounds as angry spectators, feeling badly shortchanged, threw rubbish at the two men.
Despite Inoki landing 64 kicks to Ali’s five punches, the judges bizarrely called the fight a draw.
Inoki broke a bone in his foot from kicking Ali so much, while the champ was left with two blood clots on a leg, an injury that could easily have finished his career.
Ali’s promoter Bob Arum said later: “Ali got an infection in his legs and almost had to have an amputation. He could have been crippled for the rest of his life.”
Ali’s footwork was affected and he was never able to float like a butterfly again.
Although he beat Ken Norton three months later to retain the world heavyweight title, he never stopped another opponent.
In a happier postscript, Ali and Inoki became good friends so The Greatest gained something from the farce which almost cost him a leg. THE first thing I noticed when I switched to boxing was the footwork.
There were a lot of basic errors that we make in mixed martial arts that are ironed out when boxers are young. That won’t be an issue for Conor McGregor though, he started in boxing so will already have had that drilled into him.
The way I threw my punches also changed a lot – a lot more detail went into the shots.
For instance, with MMA gloves you have to land with the front knuckles, so your elbow will be up high as you want to dig the knuckles in.
When I threw a shot, it was telegraphed by my elbow so I had to learn to throw it without a tell.
The sparring in boxing was also different. The first thing that caught me off guard was how little a target I had. With MMA, I find a fighter will throw a shot and their opponent will look to counter immediately, with boxers sometimes they’ll march you down and take your shots on the gloves. If you’re putting power into every shot, once you start resting, they start pouring the pressure on.
You have to be efficient with your shots in boxing, you can’t unload with every one. You have to find the gap when you throw power shots and make them count.
The fighters who seem to give Floyd Mayweather problems are those who are more unorthodox. He’s very good on his jab so you have to use unorthodox ways of getting in and then stay in without him tying you up.
It’s a difficult gameplan, but I would smother him and try to get in without smothering my own work, similar to the way Oscar De La Hoya and Marcos Maidana did.
It’s a fight so there is always the chance that McGregor will catch him, but Mayweather is a defensive genius so I have to lean towards him.