{"id":83476,"date":"2022-10-01T04:43:05","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T04:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/antonio-inoki-famed-combat-sports-trailblazer-dies-at-79\/"},"modified":"2022-10-01T04:43:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T04:43:05","slug":"antonio-inoki-famed-combat-sports-trailblazer-dies-at-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/antonio-inoki-famed-combat-sports-trailblazer-dies-at-79\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Inoki, famed combat sports trailblazer, dies at 79"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Antonio Inoki, a combat sports trailblazer, influential politician and larger-than-life figure in his native Japan, died Friday at the age of 79, it was announced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the promotion he founded.<\/p>\n

The cause of Inoki’s death was not released, but he had fallen ill in recent years and was relegated to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n

Inoki retired from politics in 2019. Though he touched many parts of Japanese culture in his lifetime and became one of the most famous people in the country, Inoki was most known for his work in combat sports as a pro wrestler, promoter and fighter — most notably, his bout with Muhammad Ali.<\/p>\n

Inoki was the most important professional wrestler in the history of Japan, selling out countless arenas and stadiums from the 1970s and on. He was also the first Japanese wrestler to win the WWF championship (though the reign is not currently recognized by WWE) and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2010.<\/p>\n