Arm Wrestling legend Devon Larratt explains how a joke landed him in a boxing fight with 323lb ‘Mountain’ Thor Bjornsson

Legendary arm wrestling champion Devon Larratt stepped up to avoid wasting the day in Dubai five years ago – but probably won’t be fighting again.

The Canadian is widely considered to be considered one of the best arm wrestlers within the history of the game. And he competes on this weekend’s East Vs West 23 in Germany as a part of what he’s branding one of the crucial stacked cards of all time.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen occur in a boxing ring?

Fight fans will remember Larratt for coming in with next to no boxing training and fighting Thor Bjornsson. ‘The Mountain’ had been in camp for a fight with Eddie Hall and even taking exhibition bouts, and boasted an almost 50lb weight advantage on the already gigantic 6’6 273lb Larratt.

Devon Larratt tells the story of his fight with Thor Bjornsson

Ahead of his upcoming headliner against Vitaly Laletin at East vs West 23 at Unihalle Wuppertal, Devon Larratt sat down with Bloody Elbow for an exclusive chat. And he detailed how he landed himself a fight with an enormous despite having minimal experience to avoid wasting a giant card in Dubai.

“I absolutely loved it,” he recalled. “I remember calling Don Idrees who was running Core Sports because I used to be so excited in regards to the Thor and Eddie match. I do know the story, I do know the blokes and I wanted to observe the match a lot.

“So when Eddie blew his bicep, I’m talking to Don and I’m like ‘buddy, when you need a man simply to get in there I’m your dude,’ and I used to be just about joking. So he called me up weeks later and asked if I used to be serious and I went ‘yeah, yeah, sure I’m serious’.

“It was Friday so he told me I’d know on Monday. I used to be like ‘oh my God’. So I got a call on Monday that I’m in and I even have four-and-a-half weeks. Now, I don’t know anything about boxing.”

He ultimately asked around and ended up on the legendary Tristar in Montreal, home of UFC legends Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald. “I moved in for like 4 weeks,” he added. “And I used to be just getting beat up day by day and I loved it, I loved every minute of it since it’s super humbling.”

Unfortunately, the result didn’t go Larratt’s way as he was stopped inside a round by Bjornsson. Nevertheless, he never hit the canvas because the bout was stopped on the feet and he has returned to proceed his domination on the worldwide arm wrestling circuit.