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Watch Muhammend Ali vs. Antonio Inoki

November 15th, 2006 by Adamu		 Adamu

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can now watch highlights from the historic Muhammad Ali fight with Japanese pro wrestling legend Antonio Inoki (read more about the fight here):

It’s a sports documentary in Japanese, but anyone should be able to get a picture of what the fight looked like. And what does it look like? A boring mess! This description of the fight put it well:

Inoki spent much of the fight on the ground trying to damage Ali’s legs. Ali spent most of the fight dodging the kicks by stepping out of the way or staying on the ropes. Occasionally, Inoki’s boot would connect. By the third round, a wound had appeared on Ali’s left knee.

I guess that’s what happens when you put a boxer and a wrestler together and then try and mix-match the rules of each sport.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 7:31 pm and is filed under Japan, Japan-US Relations, Professional Wrestling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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    • 4 Responses to 'Watch Muhammend Ali vs. Antonio Inoki'

    1. John Says:
      November 16th, 2006 at 3:43 am

      Could you explain for me whether this is the reason why the MMA thing that Inoki got into was called Inoki Bom-Ba-ye? or Does Bom-Ba-ye have a Native meaning in Japanese language?

    2. Adamu Says:
      November 16th, 2006 at 8:29 am

      OK, I looked it up, and it’s a reference to the Rumble in the Jungle. Salon has the story:

      “When George Foreman came to Zaire, he came with his pet German shepherd,” recalls Bingham. “That was a no-no because it was a reminder of Zaire’s colonial past where the police kept the crowds in line with German shepherds. So they hated him. But they loved Ali. That’s why the crowds would always chant, ‘Ali boma-ye!’ which means ‘Ali, kill him!’ It was wonderful seeing the feeling they had for Ali. It was a lot of fun just hanging out.”

      “Bombaye” is a mispronunciation used by a songwriter who used the chant as a title for a song about Ali, “Ali Bombaye”. Apparently, that’s where Inoki got the idea.

    3. M-Bone Says:
      November 16th, 2006 at 2:17 pm

      The “boma-ye” thing is played up in the amazing documentary “When We Were Kings”—anybody who is curious about Ali or the Rumble in the Jungle, or just wants to see a good doc, should check it out.

      Inoki ripped it off and talks a bit about it in his autobiography.

    4. John Says:
      November 17th, 2006 at 5:33 am

      Ok thanks for that explanation dude

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