Muhammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki fight was held at Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo on June 26, 1976. The Match was announced as “The war of the worlds” and the “match of the century”. However, this fight didn’t live up to the hype.
According to Inoki, Ali had signed on the expectation that fight is going to be an exhibition rather than a real fight.Due to this fact fight was contested under specially created rules. Inoki couldn’t throw, grapple or tackle Ali, and he could not land any kicks unless he had one knee on the mat.
Inoki stayed most of the fight on the mat, crab-walking and kicking ALI’s legs which resulted in a injury of Muhammad allis leg.He also suffered two blood clots in his legs affecting his mobility permanently. Ali managed to throw his first punch in a seventh round. Until the end of the fight, Ali threw only six punches.
In the end, the match was ruled as a draw. The crowd at the Budokan threw rubbish into the ring and chanted “Money back! Money back!”. From the “match of the century” the match turned in to “the most boring fight of the century.”
