Antonio Inoki, a popular Japanese professional wrestler and lawmaker who faced boxing champion Muhammad Ali in a mixed martial arts match in 1976, died Oct. 1 at 79.
Mr. Inoki helped set up mixed-martial-arts matches between top wrestlers and champions from other combat sports such as judo, karate and boxing. In 1976, he faced Ali in a mixed-martial-arts match at Tokyo’s Budokan hall, an exhibition match that Japanese fans remember as “the fight of the century.”
To many outside Japan, however, the match was seen as unprofessional and not taken seriously. Mr. Inoki was mostly on the mat and kicking at Ali’s legs as the boxing champion circled around him.
Kanji Inoki was born in Yokohama on Feb. 20, 1943, and moved to Brazil with his family when he was 13 and worked at a coffee plantation. He debuted as a professional wrestler at 17 and captured the attention of Rikidozan, known as the father of Japanese pro-wrestling.
Mr. Inoki made his pro-wrestling debut in 1960 and gave himself the ring name Antonio Inoki two years later. With his archrival, the late Shohei “Giant” Baba, he made pro wrestling a hugely popular sport in Japan. Mr. Inoki founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1972.
Mr. Inoki entered politics in 1989 after winning a seat in the upper house, one of Japan’s two chambers of parliament, and headed the Sports and Peace Party. He traveled to Iraq in 1990 to win the release of Japanese citizens who were held hostage there. He also staged a pro-wrestling match in North Korea.
Mr. Inoki visited North Korea repeatedly to help resolve Japan’s long-standing issue of past abductions of Japanese nationals to the North.
He retired as a wrestler in 1998 but remained active in politics until 2019. Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
