Fans who tuned in to see Eddie Hall take on Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson last night have been slightly confused by the tactics the Englishman used in the boxing ring.
Of course, the tactics weren’t all that useful to him anyway, given that Björnsson – we’ll just call him Thor, shall we? – won the fight pretty comfortably in the end.
The fight, dubbed the ‘Heaviest Fight in Boxing History’, took place over six rounds in Dubai and saw the two World’s Strongest Man champions settle a beef that has been brewing for years.
When the six rounds were up, the Icelandic fighter won on points, but fans were equally as interested in Hall’s boxing stance as they were in the result of the match.
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You see, Hall kept leaning over to one side for ages, perhaps trying to negate the reach and height advantage of Thor.
Then, after creeping around the ring like a crab following his opponent, Hall would unleash a huge swing at his opponent, with pretty limited success.
Honestly though, as boxing matches between people who aren’t actually boxers go, it was quite interesting.
Thor obviously worked on technique and ring craft, whereas Eddie seemed to have devised a plan for his specific opponent, as well as relying heavily on landing a crushing right hand at some point.
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In the end, the man they call The Mountain was the victor.
Still, Hall's style definitely attracted some attention online.
One person said: “Wtf was that boxing style from @eddiehallWSM??? The crab??”
Another wrote: “Not one to take the p*** but Eddie hall’s Quasimodo boxing style is a bit weird.”
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Not everyone was taking the p***, though.
Another person said: “I’ll start by saying @eddiehallWSM is phenomenally naturally talented with that unorthodox style I think if he trained under Tyson [Fury] or even Floyd [Mayweather] to accessorise this style he’d be great that right hand is deadly.”
After the fight, Eddie spoke candidly about his defeat and said that he hopes for a rematch.
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Speaking on Instagram, Hall said: "You know what, I can take things as a man. It is what it is, that's boxing.
“At the end of the day I've just fought the biggest man on the planet in a boxing match. I'd like to see anyone else get the balls and do that.
“It's been a hell of a journey; I've enjoyed it and hopefully there's a rematch and we can do business again.”
Thor said: "I congratulated him, I said, 'Thank you very much'. I said he fought well, which he did
"I told him he's the only man that's dropped me in the ring. I'm not going to go into details with what he said, but that's what I said.
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"I'm loving this journey. I'm still a beginner. I'd say I'm OK for a beginner, I've learned a lot in a short period of time.”
We’ll have to wait and see what comes next from the two giants, but a rematch looks like it could be on the cards.
Topics: Eddie Hall, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson, Weird, Boxing, Sport, Celebrity
Tom Wood