Antonio Inoki’s real name is Kanji Inoki. He is a popular Japanese wrestler. He now resides in New York and is a champion in mixed marital arts. Antonino Rocca inspired Inoki and thus he kept his name as Antonio Inoki. He was born in 1943 in Yokohama. He lost his father in his childhood itself. His father was a politician and businessman. Antonio Inoki has a very good height. It is 6’2. His weight is 224lb. His hometown is Tokyo, Japan. He has many ring names. Some of them are Moeru, Toukon and Tokyo Tom. When he was in 7th grade, he got a terrific height of 180cms. At that time he was in a basketball team. Antonio Inoki also played shot put. His elder brother taught in Karate from the very young age. In the junior high school itself, he was selected for a professional career in sumo wrestling. After this his family took him to Brazil. But his passion for sports did not die and he won many championships in shot put and discus.
At the age of 17, Antonio Inoki met Rikidozan. He became his student and went to Japan for Japanese Wrestling Association. After Rikizodan’s death, he worked under Dojo Baba until 1966 when he joined the original Tokyo Pro Wrestling. Again in 1967, he joined Japanese Wrestling Association as Baba’s partner. They both dominated and performed great.
In 1972, Antonio Inoki founded New Japan Pro Wrestling. Then his match was against Karl Gotch. Karl Gotch taught him the art of hooking and shooting. This was a part of catch wrestling roots. Antonio Inoki has faced many opponents and has performed very well in many fights. He was truly a pioneer of combat sports. Antonio Inoki had faced Akram Pahalwan from Pakistan, Olympic judo gold medallist Willem Ruska and WBC world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Antonio Inoki has many fans in Japan and think of him as the best wrestler. Antonio Inoki’s mixed marital match styles are thought of having been worked, but there is no proof for the same.
Antonio Inoki retired in 1998. He faced Don Frye in the final match of his professional career. It’s great that his career lasted for almost 35 years. He trained many of his disciples, who performed very well. Tiger Mask, Saturo Sayama, Minoru Suzuki, Akira Maeda etc. Antonio Inoki continues to bring fighters like Mark Coleman, Quinton Jackson, Dan Bobish in professional events like Hustle. Antonio Inoki was also active in political career. In 1989, Antonio Inoki established Sports And Peace Party. He was elected to the House Of Councilors of the National Diet Of Japan. Antonio Inoki continued to wrestle and promote while serving as a legislator. He served in Diet till 1995, when he failed to win re-election. |
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