32 years ago this week, Rocky Johnson showed up in Memphis , (with boxing gloves in hand.) The back story for this involved Muhammad Ali. In Japan , their top wrestler,Antonio Inoki had challenged Muhammad Ali to a wrestler vs boxer match. The match took place on June 26, 1976 with Ali getting $6 million. The match was terrible and had Anoki staying in a crab-like position (to keep from getting punched). Inoki threw a lot of kicks to Ali’s legs while Ali only threw about a dozen punches the whole fight. The 15 round match was declared a draw.
Before the Ali-Inoki match took place, it got a ton of publicity. Memphis , like most territories, always tried to do the same thing that seemed to work elsewhere, so Jerry Lawler challenged anyone, (wrestler, boxer, football players, etc.) That’s where Jarrett brought in Rocky Johnson as a boxer. Rocky had boxed before, even sparring with George Frazier, but he was 100% wrestler. He had wrestled in Texas , St. Louis , San Francisco , Florida , etc. Johnson was charismatic and got over quickly with the Memphis fans.
This first match had Lawler beating Rocky, I think with a chain or chloroform on a towel, etc. What cut the boxer-wrestler feud short was the fact that the TN State Boxing Commission got involved and made Jarrett stop the boxing angle. The reason was Rocky Johnson was not licensed to box in TN and Jerry Jarrett was not licensed to put on a boxing show in TN. All this did was get Rocky into the ring as a wrestler much quicker.
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Rocky and Lawler did have a rematch or 2 (which they split.) The fans would have to wait until 1977 for Rocky and the King to get into an all out war. In the summer of 1976, the seeds for this memorable feud were planted.
----Mark James is the author of “Memphis Wrestling History – Cards, Matches, Results, Newspaper Clippings” Vol 1 and "Vol 2: The Programs 1972 - 1976" James also is the webmaster to the BEST Memphis Wrestling site in the area – www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com - Click on his site and order his books!!
