Eddie Hall has detailed where his rivalry with Thor Bjornsson originates from ahead of their long-awaited boxing fight next month.
The former strongmen will meet in Dubai on March 19, six months after their original meeting was cancelled after Hall suffered a bicep injury.
Bjornsson instead took on arm-wrestling champion Devon Larratt at the event, knocking out the Canadian in a drastic mismatch.
But the pair will now meet in the 'heaviest match in boxing history' with the pair recently exchanging words after the fight was announced.
And Hall stated his rivalry with Bjornsson dates back to when the pair competed at the 2017 World's Strongest Man competition.
"To be honest, I just want to bang this guy out, bang him out again, and then just get him out of my headspace," Hall told Muscle and Health.
"I’ve just spent too much time fixated on wanting to hurt this man and I just need to move on. He wronged me in 2017, he’s put a black cloud over me for a number of years. I just want to put that to bed and move on with my life."
During the 'Viking press' event, Bjornsson completed 15 repetitions but was deducted of one of them after the referee deemed he completed an illegal move.
"We want to hurt, well, I want to hurt him. This is a serious fight. We actually genuinely hate each other," he added.
After Bjornsson was deducted a repetition on the Viking press lift, Hall would go on to win the competition and retire from strongman entirely.
Bjornsson would achieve his dream of winning the competition in 2018 after placing either third or second for six consecutive years.
Who wins - Eddie Hall or Thor Bjornsson? Let us know your prediction in the comments section below
Four years after Hall set a world record for deadlifting 500kg, Bjornsson bettered his rival by lifting 501kg in his home gym.
"He went and did some b******* home gym hero lift trying to beat my world record deadlift," Hall said. "If he beat me then the fact it was only 1kg heavier is irrelevant, but I just can’t get my head around how he can think his attempt can be legitimate.
"Who checked the plates? His dad weighed the plates! Everything about it just stinks to me.
"Put it this way, if I pulled 500 kilos four years ago in my home gym and my own dad weighed the plates, every single person would smell bull****.
"The only reason Thor took the World’s Strongest Man title is because I retired - so he’s welcome. He’s welcome that I retired. He’s lucky I retired, or else he never would have won the World’s Strongest Man."
