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It took nearly two weeks for Björnsson to respond to Hall’s initial challenge, but the 2018 WSM champion not only accepted the wager but raised the stakes yet again. “The Mountain” requested that they both donate $200,000 to charity regardless of who wins. Should Hall accept, a total of $400,000 will be guaranteed to the charity of the winner’s choice.
Watch Björnsson’s entire reaction and response to Hall’s challenge in the video below, courtesy of Björnsson’s YouTube channel:
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In Hall’s second video, he said he “heard from a mutual friend that [Björnsson] doesn’t want to do the deal because he’s scared to lose.” Björnsson refutes that claim, explaining his lack of response was not knowingly ignoring him; Björnsson just had more important things to do.
I didn’t ignore you. I have other things in my life I have to take care of — training, my sleep, my new nutrition, and, of course, my family.
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After clearing the air regarding the timing of Björnsson’s response, “The Mountain” embraced the deal, stating, “I’m absolutely down. I’m pumped for this.” However, he didn’t stop there. Björnsson leveled the deal out so that both he and Hall are on the hook for $200,000 and wants to make sure that the money will find its way to charity no matter who emerges victorious in the ring.
Win or lose, we both give away [the money], we both win, and we give more to charity.
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Björnsson agreed that the winner should still get the choice of charity. On the same day as Björnsson’s video’s release, Hall took to his YouTube channel to accept:
The clause of the wager will be written into their contracts to ensure that neither athlete can back out of it. Hall stated he would choose a charity involved in aiding mental health. He was not satisfied with the winner and loser of their bout donating the same amount, however. Hall extended an additional clause of the wager to Björnsson: the loser of their fight donates $1,000,000. If Björnsson accepts Hall’s counter, $1.2 million* will be donated to charity regardless of the fight’s outcome.
*Note: Hall spoke in “dollars” in his video, but the video’s title is written in pounds. For reference, £1.2 million is $1,618,902 at the time of this article’s publication.
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Fourth Round Knockout Prediction
Björnsson gained a lot of in-ring experience over the past year and a half. Between his exhibitions with Simon Vallily, Steven Ward, and his professional boxing debut against Devon Larratt — who replaced Hall after Hall injured his biceps — Björnsson felt confident enough to renew his prediction for his fight against Hall.
Previously, Björnsson predicted a “very early” knockout of “The Beast.” The 2018 WSM champ now believes he will win the bout by knockout in the fourth round via an uppercut. Whether he gave that information to Hall in earnest or to mess with his expectations going into the ring, it appears both men are ready to throw hands. We’ll see what happens when they step into the squared circle, most likely on a date sometime in early 2022.
Featured image: @thorbjornsson on Instagram
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