Hafthor Bjornsson is certainly putting in the hard yards as he trains ahead of his mammoth showdown later this year against former strongman competitor, Eddie Hall.'The Mountain' and Hall have been at loggerheads since 2017 when Hall was crowned World's Strongest Man at the expense of Bjornsson, who accused his British rival of cheating in the Viking Press. Although he went on to win the 2018 event and has since beaten Hall's deadlift world-record, Bjornsson demanded a boxing match between the pair to settle their differences. Dubbed the 'heaviest boxing match in history', the bout is set to take place in Las Vegas in September this year.In the build-up to the fight, Bjornsson is due to take on British heavyweight Simon Vallily in a warm-up clash in May and has been sharing on Instagram the grueling workouts he is putting himself through in order to be in top shape. The Game of Thrones actor can be seen having a medicine ball slammed down onto his abdomen in order to help build core strength and the pain is clear to see not just in his face, but also his bright-red stomach he reveals afterwards. 

The Icelander's exhibition fight against Vallily on May 28 in Dubai will be a good test of his boxing credentials, although his fight with Hall will be like nothing we've seen before with both men weighing a combined 56 stone.

It's clear to see there is no love lost between the two former strongmen, despite being good friends at one stage.  Eddie Hall hasn't forgiven 'Thor' for questioning his integrity back in 2017 which threatened to derail his entire career. 

Hall recently said; "This is what people don’t sort of get.

“We used to be good friends. He’s been round my house and we’ve had parties. We’ve travelled around the world together. But what happened at World’s Strongest Man 2017 just threw all that friendship out the window.

“It was a big dagger in the back. That’s irreparable, three or four years with a cloud over my World’s Strongest Man win.

“What’s that cost me in terms of my career? He just doesn’t care. I still haven’t had an apology from him, he’s not denying it.

“He keeps saying he was robbed, hard done to. At the end of the day, if he’s got solid evidence bring it up. He’s full of c***.

“Thor is not my friend. He was and I can safely say, even with an apology, I don’t want to break bread with this man.”