[1978-11-09-Roland Bock's Catch Europa Tournee] Antonio Inoki vs Karl Mildenberger

[GOTNW]

Karl Mildenberger is a german boxer. He was the european boxing heavyweight champion and even fought Ali for the title. Hence this being billed as wrestler vs boxer, though the boxing part is more present in how they lay out the match. They both wear boxing gloves and Inoki tries to hang with Mildenberger on the feet. Occassionally he tries leg kicks and takedowns but they get blocked, don't do much damage or the ref makes them stand up. Initially it starts out with a lot of swaying, gauging the distance and the stuff you'd expect from an actual boxing match but as it progressess Mildenberger manages to find openings, first cornering Inoki and making him go on the defensive and then repeteadly knocking him down. At the height of Inoki's puril at the opening of the fourth round MIldenburger rushes him with a flurry, Inoki escapes with a clinch, the ref breaks them up and in the split second Mildenberger takes to complain to the ref Inoki lands a BEAUTIFUL Enzuigiri that knocks him down and quickly follows that up with a Boston Crab and it's all over. Boxing gloves make a lot of submissions virtually impossible, and with the ref not allowing them to spend much time on the ground I doubt one could've come up with a better finish that woud play up to everything that they set up during the match as well. ***1/4