WHEN BRITISH STRONGMAN Eddie Hall announced in 2020 that he would be pivoting his training and trying to launch a career as a boxer, it baffled some of his fans—but his transformation into a drastically leaner (albeit still huge) athlete shut up the naysayers. And as a former World’s Strongest Man title holder, Hall had one asset that would serve him well in the ring: his formidable strength.
Since then, Hall has set his sights on the arena of mixed martial arts, and is currently in training for his MMA debut against fellow strongman-turned-fighter Brian Shaw and the reigning WSM champion Mitchell Hooper.
In a new video on his YouTube channel, Hall attempts to get a gage on his punching ability with a machine designed to test just that. He is joined in the experiment by UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, number one heavyweight kickboxer in the world Rico Verhoeven, and British K-1 kickboxing champion Jake Oakes. The highest ranking on the machine before they begin is 899, and so they place their bets on who will be able to beat that number.
“I think weight and technique play a big factor,” says Aspinall, who believes that Hall has a good chance of achieving the highest score. Verhoeven, meanwhile, thinks that Oakes’ speed and explosiveness might help him—and Hall agrees. “This man can throw a shot quicker than all of us put together, I can guarantee it,” he says.
When it comes to measuring the hardest punch, however, Oakes lands the lowest score with 875 points, while Verhoeven scores 880, and Aspinall 887. After throwing several strikes and getting a feel for the machine, Hall successfully beats the existing highest score of 899 and sets a new record of 901. They then continue to measure the power of their jabs and kicks.
“Regardless of what that machine says, I wouldn’t want that on my nose,” Hall says of the others. “It doesn’t matter if I hit harder, these guys will floor the wind out of me, no problem. I might land one punch in a fight, these lads are landing 100.”
This isn’t Hall’s first or even second time trying to measure his punching potency: in 2021, he set himself the goal of beating the world record set by UFC legend Francis Ngannou on a PowerKube, and came pretty close. Shortly after, during a visit to the Arnold Sports Festival, he tried to test his strength on a punchbag machine—and ended up breaking it.
Philip Ellis
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.
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