The idea had come from Ali himself. Lots of judo, lots of kung fu and lots of jiujitsu, but no oriental fighter wants to fight me, he had come to say, a year or so before, in one of his usual bravado. Inoki, Japanese wrestling champion, accepted the challenge. It seems that the initial idea was to choreograph a confrontation that, in exchange for six million dollars for Ali, ended with Inoki treacherously defeating him (after the referee himself was also accidentally knocked out and did not realize the ruse), but Ali He did not agree to be knocked out even if it was a lie and, given the lack of agreement, when the fight began nobody really knew if it was serious or not. As soon as the bell rang, Inoki executed a flying kick that was lost in the air and, to escape Ali’s jab, he suddenly fell to the ground, from where the next three minutes were dedicated to launching kicks to the calves, which Ali dodged. as he could jumping around the ring while trying to launch the occasional malicious kick in turn. This is how the remaining 14 rounds also passed, after which, and while all kinds of objects fell on the canvas, the referee declared a no contest. Upon his return to America, Ali had to be admitted to a hospital with blood clots in his legs. Inoki had given him 107 kicks. The heavyweight champion had only been able to hit him seven times.
