Mayweather-McGregor to join legends of hype

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS

It may not be the fight of the century, but it could be the event of at least the last few years.

The spectacle that is Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor will almost surely live in sports lore for reasons other than what happens in the ring. The two will add their names to some one-off events that have fascinated sports fans and others, even if the actual competition didn’t live up to the hype.

Ali-Frazier it’s not. Ali-Inoki, well, now we’re getting warmer.

Remember some of these not-so-epic but massively hyped events?

ALI-INOKI

The original mixed combat sports event, and likely the reason there haven’t been any since. Muhammad Ali was looking for a payday in 1976 when he agreed to meet professional wrestler Antonio Inoki in a 15-round match in Tokyo. Promoter Bob Arum wanted to make sure Ali won and went to wrestling promoter Vince McMahon to figure out a script for the fight, which was shown on closed circuit in the U.S. The plan was for Ali to catch Inoki on the ropes and Inoki to have a hidden razor in his mouth to cut himself so there was real blood. Ali would then beg the referee to stop the fight. The problem was Inoki thought he was in a real fight and when the opening bell rang he raced across the ring and threw a kick at Ali. Inoki spent much of the fight in a crablike position on the canvas, kicking at Ali’s legs, badly bruising them. While Inoki wasn’t in on the plan, the referee was and he gave the decision to Ali. “It was the low point of my career,” Arum said. “It was so embarrassing, just a total farce.”

KING-RIGGS

Bobby Riggs was a 55-year-old tennis hustler when he talked his way into a “Battle of the Sexes” match with Billie Jean King in 1973 at the Astrodome. At the time the women’s liberation movement was flourishing and America was fascinated with the idea a woman could play competitively against a man on the tennis court. Riggs, who trained on vitamins and avocados, declared it the “greatest hustle of all time” and promoted the match while wearing a T-shirt with the acronym WORMS — the World Organization for the Retention of Male Supremacy. More than 30,000 paid their way into the Astrodome, where courtside seats were an astronomical $100, and Howard Cosell was in a tuxedo at courtside for the ABC telecast. King came through on behalf of women everywhere by beating Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. “Billy Jean King Outlibs the Lip,” read the next day’s Daily News headline.