Hafthor Bjornsson boxed his old rival Eddie Hall earlier this weekend in Dubai. The livestream for the match was plagued by downtime and buffering issues.
The boxing match was better than expected considering the two are strongmen and not boxers. The match ended up going the distance.
The full six rounds electrified the Dubai crowd. Bjornsson, whose biggest claim to fame was an acting role on Game of Thrones, earned his bragging rights having floored Eddie Hall twice.
Hall started off strong, showcased his explosiveness. He managed to rock Hafthor several times however he couldn’t keep the pace going past those first 3 minutes.
Hafthor caused a cut under Hall’s right eye early on. Hall’s strikes, on the other hand, sent Bjornsson for the ropes.
After Bjornsson was declared the victor – he seemed open to a rematch. A rematch clause was also the part of a contract between Hall and him.
But Hall’s longtime friend and supporter Martyn Ford was in the crowd and offered to redeem his friend instead.
In the audience was another huge (pun intended) fan of boxing – Martyn Ford. Ford is getting ready for his own celebrity boxing debut against viral sensation Iranian Hulk (Sajad Gharibi).
Ford is a long time friend of Eddie Hall and wasn’t particularly thrilled with the final result.
Ford, 39, told iFL TV: “I’m just gutted for Eddie, as a friend. But I’ll tell you what, I’d definitely f***ing knock him out.
“I’d take Thor, 100 per cent, 100 per cent. In my eyes, technically, he’s good, he’s been coached well.
“But I’d take Thor, 100 per cent, I don’t know if I’d ‘knock him out’ but I’d win. I’d back myself, 100 per cent.”
To Ford’s credit – he’s one of the rare man that can match Bjornsson’s stature. Ford stands at 6 feet 8 inches and weighs roughly 140kg. Ford has been making money by acting besides his combat sports adventures. Ford admitted he has no ill will toward Thor, and would only participate in the match up if Hall was all for it:
“If Eddie versus Thor can be made and Thor wants to carry on boxing, we aren’t a million miles away from each other.
“I don’t have anything personal against Thor, I don’t even know the guy. Technically, I’d genuinely back myself.
“I’m not taking anything away, this is Eddie’s night, I’m here for Eddie, I’m not here for calling out anyone.”
“Thor wants to stay in boxing, do I wanna do some boxing? F*** yeah. If Eddie wants me to do it, would I do it? F*** yeah.
“If Eddie don’t want me to do it, would I do it? No, I wouldn’t.”
Ford was initially scheduled to make his own boxing debut April 2nd during a Boxstar promotions card but the event was moved to April 30th after undisclosed injuries.
Bjornsson appears to have greenlit the match up. While he seemed open to rematch at first, after the weekend had passed Thor spoke out that he would like to end the saga with Hall and to move on with his life.
“I respect him as an athlete but I just want to move on. ”
“Honestly I really wouldn’t want a rematch because I want to move on.”
“I don’t really want to communicate with him. We’re not going to be best friends, that’s just a fact.”
“But if he wants the rematch I’ll give it to him 100 per cent.”
Bjornsson foresees Ford coming out victorious in the match up against Iranian hulk. He told thesun:
“I think Martyn Ford is going to win. The other guy doesn’t look in shape at all. I don’t know the other guy, though.”
“But I’ve seen on pictures that he looks big and doesn’t look like he has the endurance to even go one round, in my opinion.”
“But I don’t know, we’ll see. But Martyn Ford, I’ve seen some clips of him and he looks okay.”
“I am open to it one hundred per cent,” Bjornsson told Mirror Fighting about facing Ford next.
“I am not getting any younger so it would have to make sense and it would have to be sooner rather than later. I am not going to be thinking about names but someone asked me before if I would fight Martyn Ford. ”
“I am definitely open to discuss something versus him if the opportunity were there. But I am not discussing that right now because I want to focus on Eddie one hundred percent. I want the whole world to see this fight and see me win. That is why I was so happy they decided to do it for free for fans.”