On September 18, 2021, in Dubai, UAE, 2018 World’s Strongest Man champion Hafthor The Mountain Björnsson won a TKO victory in the first round of his boxing match with Canadian arm-wrestler Devon Larratt. Larratt was only appointed as a replacement for 2017 World’s Strongest Man Champion Eddie Hall who had to withdraw from the bout two months before due to rupturing his left biceps in a sparring session.
In only six weeks, Larratt’s odds were greatly against him for competing with Björnsson. Björnsson had greater height, weight, reach, and age advantages than Larratt.
Hall alleges that UFC fighter Björnsson got a “conspiracy of favors” from his two exhibition opponents: the match was not fully competitive and Björnsson landed more punches. MMA fighter, Hall, points out (in a video) how Björnsson only lasted one round in his MMA bout.
At the opening bell, Björnsson immediately noticed Hall’s intention to grab control of the center of the ring where he would be less able to react. A right jab pushed Larratt out to the side, and the Canadian danced a bit before getting a sense of Björnsson’s reach. Björnsson threw another flurry that was met with a clinch by Larratt and then a punch from him. The two boxers lost their balance and toppled into a corner, where a referee re-established the fight for them.
Larratt in his own defense threw a looping punch that was easily deflected by Björnsson, who then followed with a right hook. Björnsson used his 60 feet knockout radius to send Larratt out of the ring. However, Hall did not see it as he hopped onto the apron and stopped the referee from counting towards Larratt for an illegal defense.
Want To Know More About Devon Larratt
The judges stopped Larratt in the first round and he seemed to slow his pace down. Hall was keen on the end of round one when Larratt’s cardio seemed to have weakened.
“When your cardio goes — his arms dropped, he had no…offense or defense,” Hall explains.” Unless you’ve been training for a long time…three minutes is a long time to be in the ring with someone with that adrenaline going.
Hall believes that Larratt had the skill advantage but thought that gap should have been wider given the discrepancy in prep time for the match–six weeks versus 18 months.
With his education in ring generalship apparent, Hall noticed how Björnsson was moving to the right against Larratt and encouraged him to continue doing what he is training for when they meet in the ring. Despite being a big disadvantage, Hall believes that Björnsson will easily defeat “The Mountain” with his training because it is making him more battle-ready when they fight.
Want To Know More About Hafthor Björnsson
The Beast vs. The Mountain
Sources confirmed in an interview with strongman Laurence Shahlaei that the fight would happen, but he did not provide a date. The tentative time frame for the fight at the time of this article’s publication is March 2022.
Hall was happy to confirm that his recovery is going well, including sparring three times per week. Hall has plans in place to compete against other professional fighters, but he’s unlikely to share any footage with the public as Thor “only puts out what he wants Us to see; what he wants Thor to see.”
