Ingemar Johannson died in a Swedish nursing home in January 2009 at the age of 76. He’d lived in the nursing home in the Swedish coastal city of Kungsbacka since the mid’90′s when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and had suffered from a tough case of pneumonia immediately prior to his death.
Johannson became a worldwide fistic superstar when he knocked out Floyd Patterson in the third round of their June’59 fight to become heavyweight champion of the world. At the time, he was only the 5th champ to be born outside of the United States. He wasn’t given much of a chance going into the fight due to his lax training and frequent partying during the weeks before the bout.
While his training methods may not have been particularly disciplined, his performance in the Yankee Stadium fight made up for it. After a tentative first two rounds, Johannson floored Patterson with a quick right hand early in the third. As there was no ‘three knockdown’ rule in effect, Johannson would eventually knock Patterson down a total of seven times before referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight and awarded him the victory.
While mixed martial arts fighting has only recently become popular in the United States, contests between fighters of different martial arts disciplines have taken place in Japan for many years. They weren’t called “mixed martial arts” until recently, but they were definitely an embryonic form of the now booming sport. Many of the most famous events of this type took place in Japan during the’70′s involving pro wrestling legend Antonio Inoki.
Before and after his matchup against Muhammad Ali, Inoki would frequently compete against other martial artists in what are widely accepted to be “worked” (ie: having a predetermined outcome) matches. Inoki fought boxer Chuck Wepner, judo Gold Medalist Wilhelm Ruska and world karate champion Willie Williams among others. His most famous match internationally, however, was against Ali.
There’s a great deal of uncertainty about many of the stories surrounding how the event came together and transpired, but a few facts are now known. Ali took the fight as it was a large and presumptively easy paycheck. The big money he was earning is what kept him from walking out when his camp started to disagree with Inoki’s handlers over the rules and ‘finish’ fo the fight. Some suggest that it was supposed to be a fair fight going in, but Ali at the last minute insisted on rules more favorable to him. The more likely version of events is that Ali’s handlers agreed to a predetermined finish, only to have Ali balk at the last moment.