:: 11.24.03 INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2004 BOOT CAMP ::

Antonio Inoki's sparring camp for the BOM BA YE 2003 has begun at INOKI DOJO. Over 30 young fighters including Lyoto Machida, Jimmy Ambriz and RAW team fighters gathered for the special session. Inoki advised the young athletes and demonstrated techniques. After the four hour training, Antonio Inoki answered some quick questions regarding INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2003.

Q: Please tell us about Lyoto Machida after sparring with him. INOKI: This applies to all young fighters, but if they can look at things from a different angle, they can move and fight differently. Lyoto's base is karate, but I'd like to see him break the KATA (forms) and breakthrough. As a child, I played sumo, played judo, played karate with my brothers and many athletic sports, but all through my career I never stuck to any type of fighting forms. Having no shape and reacting by instinct is important in free fighting and pro wrestling. Today we went over some small detailed techniques, but we need to do more. I want him to set clear goals because if the focus is off, goals will get more blurred when zoomed in.

Q: Fighters such as Mirko, Takayama and Fujita are all going to fight in INOKI BOM-BA-YE 2003. If you were to fight them, how would you build your fight against each of them? INOKI: That's an odd interesting question... For Mirko, he's probably one of the most well balanced fighter in this world right now. Mirko got caught in the last fight against Nogueira but probably learned off from his mistake and will grow into a new fighter. I do the best on the ground so I'll try to drag him to the ground and take it from there. Takayama is a type of guy who even knows how to die. I'll probably let him do what he wants to do and move with my instinct. Fujita, I trained him directly, so it's a different story from the other guys. I wouldn't let him take advantage of anything, it will be interesting. Technically, Fujita has trained his boxing skills. Mentally, he has dramatically developed. I'd personally say, he's the most interesting fighter right now.

Q: There's going to be three fighting events in one night on the new year's eve on different TV stations. How do you feel about this big three way battle. INOKI: My goals are different from the others. I'm competing against soccer, baseball and all the events that are regarded as "Major" by the world. I'm happy to see martial arts becoming this popular. Usually, the fans only get to see 8 to 10 fights in a event, but the fans will get see about 54 fighters in one evening! That's great!

Q: Viewers can be confused to pick the event they want to see. What do you have to say to them? INOKI: ZAMA-MIRO!!! (Look at the situation now!!!) (laugh)

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