After some internet back and forth regarding deadlifting world records, strongmen Eddie Hall and Hafþór Björnsson have signed a contract with core sports to compete against each other in a boxing match. I think this has the potential to be interesting, as long as they both train properly for it, both have been in the top level of their sport, and will have access to coaches who can push their training in the right direction. Hafþór has a height (and I'm assuming reach?) advantage, Eddie Hall just looks scary! I have found some footage from 2019 of Hall on pads, and it's not impressive, the punches are hard, but it doesn't look like he's well balanced, This footage of HB in the ring is a little over 5 years old, and I can't find any information on his partner, so it could just be a very big, very strong guy, against a smaller, not so strong guy who had the misfortune to turn up in a 'training to fight the mountain' top. Around the 2:15 mark he has him pinned against the ropes. takes one solid shot and moves about half the ring away, so possibly isn't up for taking lots of punches. Definitely gasses out and starts eating some counters in the final few seconds. youtube.com/watch?v=23LR6pWEpKU Hard to say without more footage coming out, and I hope we'll get that over the next few weeks, but who would you back in this, and why?
Hafþór Björnsson seems like he'd have the athletic advantage, but I think they'd both gas out quickly. These guys don't train for endurance and all that weight takes a lot of energy to move around. Here's a video of Björnsson sparring a while back, while he's got a nasty reach and probably hits like a truck, he's also not very focused and throws his weight around a lot because he's not afraid of getting hit, until he tires, gets hit and realizes an Adonis body don't always defend against face smashes. Watching him break the record the other day was pretty mind blowing though, I have to say I'd rather be built like Björnsson than the best boxer ever, because damn, I want to look like Hercules too.
on the deadlift itself it was amazing but like halls in 2017 it can't be compared to any other deadlift before it should be a stand alone effort. Every other deadlift record, powerlifting or strongman before was set During a competition not in a stand alone event, which makes a massive difference not only to your freshness but also your strength levels . Hathor would have never been that big of he then had to do five other events on the same day and thus wouldn't have been that strong. Eddie would have never pulled that weight in the middle of a competition like all the other records had been set. The fight will look like most people's first proper fight and like any other celebrity boxing match Massive adrenaline rush out of the gate,massive windmilling and haymakers for the first minute then gassing out , only difference is they are super heavyweights so if either lands correctly the other is going down hard. Hathor will have the reach and size advantage , halls been boxing training longer and is also a natural athlete but it's still going to look.like a car crash in slow motion. But they are both getting a massive pay day from it.
To be fair most people when they start don't like being hit it takes conditioning and repetition to get used to it. But he isn't claiming to be a fighter he is an athlete and actor getting paid a very big purse to fight another actor and athlete he would be stupid to turn it down
This is not the correct way to matchmake for a freakshow fight. If only PRIDE was still here to bring them along properly: Ancient pro wrestler held together with tape -> Totally shot middleweight kickboxer -> World class heavyweight at his peak -> Finally the other monster strongman dude
Actually there endurance for their size is pretty impressive especially their Anaerobic capacity, strongman has both a very large lactic and alactic component, carrying extremely heavy weights whilst you run for a minute or 90 secs , towing a plane for a minute, throwing very heavy weights for heights etc all rely on a very good anaerobic system, there's a reason a lot of athletes including fighters use strongman events for conditioning. They also have surprisingly good aerobic systems , try recovering from between as many as six events in a single day and you realise you have to have an conditioned aerobic system. It won't take them much to adjust their training to make it more alactic and aerobic, and less lactic and thus more suited for fighting , Both were athletes in aerobic sports at high levels before strongman, Hall in swimming and Thor in basketball so it's not new to them that sort of training the real issue will be how they deal with the adrenaline dump that all fighters get, but my guess is it will be a few two min rounds at most they have to fight.
I'm sure he recovers very well from the events he specialises in, but no one Hall's size can possibly be in shape for a fight. I guess it's theoretically possible for him to lose like 50kg and not be gasping after three minutes, but it would take months if not years and I doubt he'd do it for one-off payday when his main living is in strongman.
Hall retired about 2 years ago from strongman and has been working cardio is boxing rounds with a trainer for about that long, he has posted clips of himself doing hour long sessions of boxing rounds His training now is mainly bodybuilding stuff and cardio I think he weighs around 150kg, won't be that hard for him to drop under 300 pounds for a fight what I expect will be amateur rules so what 3x3min rounds or could be even less Hathor normally walks around 190kg he bulked up for this attempt but with a few months training dedicated to this I suspect he will easily drop to 180kg or even less. Hathor has already indicated he is missing world's this year and dedicating himself to this fight and as I said Eddie is already retired. Strongman pays relatively little and they are reportedly being offered a 7 figure payday each (according to Hathor) which will be more that either of them has made in their entire strongman career. Both make way more money from sponsorships and social media income than they did from events, and this will push both those income streams through the roof
I'd be quite surprised if that worked out, because they'll both look awful and they haven't arranged them any squash matches or fixes for them to lead up to it. The fans of these guys mostly want to believe that they're superhuman beasts, when the only footage of them fighting is them lurching around like Pudzianowski did in his first few it's going to take a bit of a hit.
Its already happening so if I was you I'd prefer to look surprised Hathor's YouTube hits go from the low hundreds of thousands to the million mark when he puts Eddie's name in the title, Eddie's almost doubled after he said yes so bang up goes their advertising income. The seven figure contact is already signed so that's money I'm the bank and all the major tabloids in the UK are running the story you don't think that's going to increase their marketability with sponsors?? The winner of the Arnold's gets around £70,000 the world's strongest Man less and for winning other major events even less. They are making over ten times that from this event and that's without taking into effect whats going to happen with both their rise in the public eye and thus increased marketability
Yep the major tabloids are all running this story so I suspect the 7 figure contract they are reported to have signed will only be the start of the income for them both out of this fight
I think the "seven figure contract" is probably based on points of an extremely optimistic PPV buy estimate. For context, KSI vs. Logan Paul made in the region of $10m overall and each of those dudes has fifty times the number of YouTube subscribers that Bjornsson has.
£1,000,000 Seems quite achievable. It's attracting a wider audience than just weight lifters. This will seriously interest casuals because hey that's fighting and they are SUPER strong. I don't doubt they will do well from this and good for them. Also, KSI and Paul fought three times so they made a fair whack more than that.
Both of these guys though have proven they can sell out 10,000 seater stadiums in the UK (without Thor and Eddie giants live would never have sold out Sheffield arena for example) so have the fan base they know will buy tickets, and also already have links with epsn and rogue who are the money behind the Arnold's events. So I suspect the contract they have signed has a guaranteed income far in excess of what Thor can make in strongman and Eddie in TV and both have already seen massive increases in viewing figures and thus income generated already
Eddie hall and Hathor are the reason giants live moved from outside venues in the UK holding a few hundred people to places holding 10,000 fans, so the promoters of this fight know they have a fan base prepared to pay for this Add to that as you say the general public being interested and it will make them both and the promoters a lot of cash
