Buckle up children, daddy’s taking us to the circus again.
This is the fourth instalment of Andrew’s laments on freakshow novelty fights in combat sports. Here are the rest:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Logan Paul | A Trip to the Circus
Donald Trump Presents: The Florida Granddad Fights
The Build Up
So here we are again, after several years of build up, the two strongest men in the world laced up a pair of cartoonishly oversized gloves, and competed in the heaviest ever boxing match (a combined 47 stone) to decide which of them would win in a fight. The answer was a simple one, the one that actually puts the effort into training. As far as freakshow exhibition fights that draw more attention than real boxing competition goes, this wasn’t that bad – but it was quite clear that Thor Bjornsson had put quite a lot of effort and thought into how he was going to perform as a boxer, and Eddie Hall just learned enough to swing.
Unlike a lot of other exhibition fights, there was quite a lot of build up. We saw their initial challenge to fight, and we saw Hafthor take on three exhibition boxing matches, two against actual professional boxers, as he figured out his game and style. Hafthor is 6’9 and uses every inch of his frame, he focussed on his jab and rear straight and honestly fought like a man who took boxing seriously as an art. We should be so lucky to see it happen again. It might seem harsh on Eddie Hall, but considering it was he that issued the challenge, it’s disappointing to see his opponent put in so much more effort.
The Bout
Eddie’s approach was less that of a technical boxer, and more that of ‘I am one of the two strongest humans to have ever lived, surely if I clock him once he’s going to be out’. Which isn’t,.. the worst approach? The issue being that strength and punching power are two completely different things, it stands to reason that Dillian Whyte could hit harder than both of them despite not being as strong a man. When Eddie Hall wasn’t content to swing haymakers, we saw him frequently use a dipping jab, something which saw a lot of people online making fun of him for ‘leaning over’.
While it’s easy to say Eddie was being silly, constantly leaning, I think I know what he was going for, he was aware he was the shorter man and making use of a dipping jab would in theory keep him away from his opponent while letting him land jabs. In practise, I don’t think he was an experienced enough boxer to make use of this. While Bjornsson was undoubtedly the better boxer, Bjornsson was also using the bare basics. Basic 1, 2s, defence and footwork, he wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel or have the offence and defensive capabilities of a master technician. He was just trying to be a good boxer.
When Eddie Hall got a knockdown, it was because Thor simply got caught due to a lack of experience, which made those haymakers more deadly than they would be against a seasoned opponent. When Thor got a knockdown, it was because he set it up with nice boxing, jabs followed by straights. Eventually, Thor simply had the stamina where Eddie did not, and he was able to outwork Hall to pick up a deserved decision win.
I’m usually very harsh on these kind of fights, they’re normally lazy cash grabs for fading stars or celebrities. I don’t feel this way about this fight though. These were two serious athletes, who both seemed to really want to fight each other, and while I complain that Eddie showed up looking far worse than his opponent, it’s fair to say he looked better than Evander Holyfield did for his bout. These were two guys, both of whom seem like perfectly nice gentleman, who wanted to slug it out and challenge each other in ways they hadn’t previously. They’ve had a rivalry in terms of their strength feats, and there have been some choice words thrown between them – but I think while they might not necessarily like each other, these two men will look back at their careers and recognise that were it not for each other, they would probably both be worst athletes.
It’s hard to be angry at two people making an honest attempt to live their lives in interesting ways. They didn’t come to to clinch and hold for 6 boring rounds in a ‘don’t hit Floyd’ match. They came to fight, and fight they did. Perhaps I’m losing my mind, but if there was a rematch, I may even watch it.
