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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Ben Davies

Martyn Ford sends rival Iranian Hulk flying in ominous fight warning

Martyn Ford sent his strongman rival Iranian Hulk flying across the ring as the pair faced off ahead of their grudge fight.

Ford and Hulk - whose real name is Sajad Gharibi - were in Dubai on Thursday morning to staredown for the first time.

As they first squared up to each other and got face to face, Gharibi charged the Brit and attempted to take him to the floor but Ford stayed on his feet.

The rivals then faced off again, with Ford retaliating to Gharibi's actions by forcefully pushing him which caused him to fall to the floor.

Ford and Gharibi will finally settle their rivalry at The O2 arena in London on April 2 in a bout branded the 'Heaviest Boxing Match In History'.

They have been rivals since their planned meeting during Ford's time with Polish MMA promotion KSW.

6'8" Ford towered over his opponent at the face-off, holding a six inch height advantage over the Iranian who stands at 6'2".

Dubai played host to the pair finally facing off with doubts previously cast over the strongman pair being ready for the April date.

However they have finally met with the 'Iranian Hulk' currently unable to travel to the UK until fight week.

Ford, known as the World's Scariest Man, has been training hard for the bout receiving advice from the likes of Dillian Whyte ahead of his maiden boxing ring appearance.

The British star has branded his rival "disgusting" and "useless" in the build-up and has vowed to end the fight with a stoppage.

"I just want to smash his head in," Ford said. "It won’t give me any sense of achievement or pride to win, because I genuinely don’t think he will bring anything to the table that will allow me to be proud of myself.

"You can’t feel good about beating someone up that is useless. For me this is about settling some nonsense that has gone backwards and forwards for two or three years.

Who do you think will win - Martyn Ford or the Iranian Hulk? Let us know in the comments section below

"The stuff that has been said from him and his camp and his fans, so I have just got to the point where I want to fight. I am not someone who takes trolling to heart, but there is a point where he has just gone to things that are disgusting and rude.

"If you want to step in to the ring, I’ll step up and I have never been afraid of confrontation.This is not a sporting event, you can’t have an event with someone who looks like that.

"That’s not a sportsman at all. This fight is purely for me to shut him and the other 200,000 fans of his. Once it is done it allows me to move forward."

His opponent has been using questionable training methods in the build-up to the event wrestling three sparring partners as he looks to boost his skills with no prior combat sports experience.

Ford equally has no prior experience in the boxing ring but has trained in MMA and has even mocked his own technique in the build-up.

Gharibi has fired ominous knockout warnings to Ford on social media, claiming that he "struggles to sleep" after training due to his thunderous punch power.

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