Claire Reid
Martyn Ford has been left looking battered and bruised after taking part in a sparring session with Rico Verhoeven. You can see some of his training and his resultant black eye here:
Ford, who’s earned himself the somewhat incredible nickname of ‘world’s scariest man’, is gearing up for this first ever boxing match against the equally hench and terrifying Sajad Gharibi, known as the Iranian Hulk.
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And it appears as if Ford has thrown himself head first into his training, after he shared a post-sparring snap of himself sporting a black eye and swollen eyebrow.
Posting the photo, he wrote: “Face courtesy of the legend that is @ricoverhoeven
(And I still love him like a brother).
“For those who doubted I was taking this seriously, when I say I am 100 percent in. Sparring with literally the best in the WORLD.
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“It doesn't get any more serious than that. I'm here to learn, to develop, to become the BEST VERSION of ME possible, and more than anything... to excite the world when I step in the @theo2london on April 2nd... I will be READY…”
Ford previously shared a video of himself alongside kickboxing legend Verhoeven writing: “I mean, I would like to say it was close... BUT I'd be lying. What an incredible morning of education. Absolutely love LOVE LOVE this sport, the only way you learn, is to push your comfort zones. I think sharing the ring with the world champ, is definitely doing that…”
Last month, Ford called out his upcoming opponent saying he was left feeling ‘genuinely embarrassed’ after watching a clip of him training.
In the lead up to the bout, Gharibi has been sharing footage of his slightly unusual training techniques including punching walls, ripping apart melons and jostling with a group of guys.
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Asked about what he thought to Gharibi’s training videos, Ford told Mirror Fighting: "I was embarrassed, genuinely embarrassed.
"People ask me if this is a real fight or if this is some kind of WWE fight. And yes of course it is 100 percent this is going off.
"He is either an absolute genius and is putting this content out to fool me that he is that bad. Or he was conceived too close to a nuclear experiment and his head isn’t right.
"Because there is something about that video and all of them I can’t grasp what he is doing. The contract's signed and the fights are real and he is putting out the content like that."