MARTYN FORD might be known as the ‘World’s Scariest Man’ – but he hasn’t always had such a hulking physique.
The Brit bodybuilder, 39, was due to fight Sajad Gharbiri in an epic heavyweight boxing showdown later this month.
But in a blow for his fledgling boxing career, the fight against the ‘Iranian Hulk’ has now been removed from the card on April 30.
He’s assured fans though that he WILL be in the ring soon, even if there’s no opponent currently in the crosshairs.
Ford has come a long way since he was a scraggly teenage cricketer, standing 6ft8 and looking slightly awkward in his own body.
The Midlands-native is now a 320lbs colossus, sculpted through years of hard work and perseverance down the gym.
Ford’s dreams of becoming a professional cricketer were dashed during his teenage years when he caught a particularly bad bout of glandular fever.
After missing a crucial year of development time due to the disease, he put down the bat and instead started pumping iron.
He explained: “The injury hit me quite hard and then psychologically I just gave up.
“I suppose a combination of not training and depression took me right down to that sort of weight.”
And fans are stunned by the throwback pics Ford shared of how he used to look before hitting the weights.
His physique has taken him from the gyms of the West Midlands to the bright lights of Hollywood, where Ford recently starred in Fast & Furious 9.
He’s the proud owner of Beta Bodz gym in Birmingham and the tattooed bodybuilder keeps up his incredible physique with a regimented workout routine.
‘THERE WILL BE A FIGHT’
This involves five high-level sessions each week, with the reps and exercises changed each month to shock his body into change.
And along with lifting weights, Ford now uses boxing and MMA to keep himself in supreme condition.
Every bodybuilder knows that workouts along won’t see you make incredible gains – you definitely are what you eat.
Before taking on the Hulk fight, Ford consumed between 4500-8000 calories every DAY and precisely counts his macros in each meal to avoid gaining any unnecessary fat.
He revealed he’d cut four stone recently as he prepared for the April 30 showdown.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on a bout with the Iranian Hulk, he looks set to enter the world of boxing soon.
He said: “I don’t want to go down the route of talking about it; too much time and energy has been wasted.
“I’m still training hard, there will be a debut. There will be a fight, I’m just not 100 per cent sure who, when or why, but it will happen.”
Ford and the Iranian Hulk clashed in Dubai last month, with the Brit coming off by far the better in a bad-tempered face-off.
Fans were concerned for Gharibi’s safety in the upcoming fight after a push from Ford sent him flying to the floor.
The bout had been scheduled on the undercard of Patrice Evra’s showdown with Adam Saleh, which currently remains on.
