It’s a strange, but brilliant, time to be a combat sports fan.
Whether it’s boxing fans blaming Drake for the original defeat of Anthony Joshua against Andy Ruiz Jr., the development of Dana White and the UFC’s masterfully-engineered ‘Fight Island’ or, of course, the showdown between YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul, there has never been better. time to watch pro athletes and celebrities trade blows for our entertainment.
The Heaviest Boxing Match in History
Namely, Hafþór ‘Thor’ Björnsson and Eddie Hall – two of the strongest men in the world.
On 2 May 2020, Iceland’s Björnsson overtook England’s Eddie Hall as deadlift king, by beating the three-year-old world record of 500kg with a lift of 501kg at his home gym in Reykjavík.
The lift, unfortunately, was met with mixed reviews and Eddie Hall, 2017 World’s Strongest Man, denied the veracity of the event, both before and after the world record was beaten.
After finishing lifting 501kg, Björnsson – who, at the time, weighed 204kg at 6’9″ – immediately spoke to the camera, calling Hall for a challenge that, strangely, sounded like a call to arms for a fight in boxing. rang.
“Eddie, I know I just blew your record off,” Björnsson said on the YouTube stream.
“Now I’m ready to knock you in the ring.
Time to put your fists where your big mouth is and sign a Core Sports contract. The contract, as Björnsson said in the video, is a “six-figure” document from Core Sports that will see two strong rivals (and old friends) come to decide the winner of “The Heaviest Boxing Match in History.”
Now, both men are training for the fight, which will take place in September 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Previously, the fight has been teased on Eddie Hall’s YouTube channel, “He thinks he will beat me in a fight,” Hall said in the video, laughing.
“He made fun of my size, he said I was a small man, 380 pounds [172kg].
Dude, that was a big mistake, man… I’m the same size when I beat you at World’s Strongest Man, and I’ll be the same size when I beat you in the ring, so there’s no difference.” For those who don’t know, in the year In 2017, Björnsson complained of being “robbed” by Eddie Hall of the World’s Strongest Man, saying that “the integrity of the sport I love was called into question,” when Hall walked away with the trophy with a single point advantage.
“I don’t like Thor, I don’t hate Thor, I don’t have an agenda to fight Thor, but I feel like there’s a demand there, I feel the fans want to see it,” Eddie said. said in Q&A.
“I kind of agree with Thor, if he wants to finish what he wants to do in Strongman, then spend a little time and train it, say he wants a year to train it, that’s fine. I’m ready to go now, no problem.
So I am happy to work on the requirements.
No hard feelings, we’ll be very gentleman about it, if he wants to take his time and train and set something up for 2021 maybe, then let’s do it.
“I feel like we need to put our heads together and make this financially beneficial for both of us, and I think the strongman world and the world itself want to see two of the World’s Strongest Men go head to head in the ring.
Thor, who’s going to go up?
Thor, it’s on my friend.
Do some light exercises today, work on technique and skills.
Fresh and ready to go!
A post shared by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (@thorbjornsson) on May 3, 2020 at 8:50am PDT
The World’s Heaviest Fight: Hafþór Björnsson’s Training
Outside of being strongmen, both men are avid YouTube personalities, which means they’ve been documenting their training journeys since day one.
Earlier this week, Björnsson shared his first boxing training and ring training with his followers.
His workouts are aimed at getting him in boxing ring shape, which includes lighter weights than his usual sessions and 10-second rest periods between sets of moves like barbell rows, sled pushes and face pulls.
“Everything has changed, training,” said Björnsson.
“The diet will have more carbohydrates, so I will lose weight.” As the video shows above, the training wasn’t just a beast, as Thor described feeling “absolutely destroyed” and shared how he “couldn’t stand it”, but he was ready to grind.
#BackUpYourBull #TeamBeast Big Love Team Beast
A post shared by Eddie hall – The Beast (@eddiehallwsm) on May 14, 2020 at 9:31am PDT
World’s Heaviest Fight: Eddie Hall Training
Eddie Hall, the archetypal Englishman, shared a similar view on his channel.
“It’s another day on the journey to knock Thor’s head off.
Today is going to be a nice, explosive strength and conditioning session based around movements for boxing.
Hall is the first to admit that this new style of training, compared to strongman, is completely new to him, despite having lost weight since his retirement.
“Being so strong for the last 11 years, and the last three years all I’ve been doing is weight training, heavy weights, you become a bit of a robot, I’ll be honest,” he said.
“I don’t know as much as anyone else about boxing.
I am not an expert or claim to be an expert.
So much to learn, so much to grow. “
Part of this progression includes boxing drills, barbell work – including chest presses and flyes – along with abdominal work, reaction-based reflex circuits and, of course, heavy bag work.
The toughest fight in the world: Who will win?
At the time of writing, we are now 16 months out from ‘The World’s Heaviest Fight’ between Hafþór Björnsson and Eddie’ Hall, so the predictions from the sports experts are little and fat between.
However, that doesn’t stop amateur critics, keyboard warriors and sports enthusiasts from debating who will win.
Both Björnsson and Hall have certain advantages in the fight – for example, Björnsson is taller with better reach, but Hall has a higher cardio threshold from his background in swimming – giving him a lot of ammunition for discussion.
Thor wins if he learns how to use his reach.
If @eddiehallWSM is hydrated going against Björnsson he will win.
@eddiehallWSM just saw the contract signing.
Not seen the level of determination since the day you train strongman.
I have zero doubt you will win the fight
@eddiehallWSM Hou is going to destroy Thor, have you seen his sparring video?
@eddiehallWSM Hou is going to destroy Thor, have you seen his sparring video?
The man turned his head every time he hit … fitness will win this fight.
The man turned his head every time he hit … fitness will win this fight.
He got gassed out in the end and the opponent was ready for it.
He got gassed out in the end and the opponent was ready for it.
I’m not saying this is going to be bad…but this is going to be bad.
World’s Heaviest Fight: How To Watch Hafþór Björnsson vs Eddie Hall
No matter where you stand, Hafþór Björnsson and Eddie Hall will be going toe-to-toe in a fight to remember.
Presented by Core Sports, the fight – like most bouts – will be streamed on a pay-per-view basis across several television services.