POWERLIFTING rivals Eddie Hall and Hafthor Bjornsson are ready to duke it out in the ring after the Icelandic behemoth laid down the gauntlet.
The gigantic boxing match has now been confirmed for September 2021.
The pair’s long-running feud escalated when a world record 501kg deadlift by the man dubbed Thor in May tipped him past Hall’s personal best from July 2016.
Bjornsson declared at the time: “So Eddie, I just knocked out your record, and now I’m ready to knock you out in the ring.
“Time to put your fists where your big mouth is and sign the Core Sports contract.
“I’m ready. Are you ready, Eddie?”
Hall replied that he was ready and waiting for the contract to fight Bjornsson – despite the Brit’s height and weight disadvantage.
He said: “One thousand per cent I’m going to sign those papers.
“And you know why I’m going to sign those papers… it’s not the money, it’s not the dead lift feud we’ve got going on, nothing to do with that.
“It’s because you called me a cheat at World’s Strongest Man 2017. I can’t put that to bed, I can’t forget it. People may forget it, but you’ve never apologised.
“I don’t care if you’re 6ft 9in, I don’t care if you’re an actual giant. I don’t care.
“I’m gonna train the hardest, prepare the hardest… do everything in my power to step in that ring and rip your f***ing head off. So Thor, get training, I’ll see you in the ring.”
So how do the two compare?
As Hall pointed out, Bjornsson stands at a mighty 6ft 7in compared to his 6ft 2in frame, weighing 30st 5lb to The Beast’s 25st 11lb.
Both men were born in 1988 and possess a single World’s Strongest Man title.
Thor once put together an eight-year streak of podium finishes, claiming the gold medal in 2018.
That came after Hall quit the competition off the back of winning the 2017 title, citing health concerns.
Working out the competitors’ net worth is naturally difficult but a YouTube channel with two millions subscribers and various sponsorship deals are thought to put Hall at around £4million.
That is estimated to surpass Bjornsson’s £1.6m, bulked up by his appearances as The Mountain in Game of Thrones.
Both men are also big eaters and Staffordshire-born Hall is thought to put away 10,000 calories per day – including his stunning 4,000 calorie ‘cheat meal’.
He revealed: “I was in a restaurant ordering mouth-watering lumps of fat taken straight from a massive joint of gammon.
“In terms of taste it was probably one of the most disgusting meals I’ve ever eaten, but in terms of calories, it was the dog’s – about 4,000, all told.”
Last year, Bjornsson revealed his daily goal of scoffing 17,000 calories to repair his muscles after tiresome workouts.
