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The two celebrities fought three, three-minute rounds and Antonio remained unscathed.
“I want to take the time to congratulate my guy Antonio Esfandiari on an amazing sparring match today. You worked hard and deserve the W champ.”
As we reported earlier [3], the two agreed on a fight including a side bet last summer, with Hart laying 35-1 odds to Antonio. Back in January, Antonio talked about the fight once again.
[4]
“As a professional gambler, I just can’t turn down a good bet. When somebody offers me 35:1, I just can’t say no. How can I? Yeah, I’m not athletic. I’m a skinny Persian. And he’s a great athlete, in incredible shape, who has been boxing for a while. I’m not a favorite by any means, but at 35:1… I can’t turn it down,” he said.
Indeed, despite his disadvantage in both weight and strength the "side bet king" got extremely good odds and managed to cash in probably really big - even though, the exact amount wasn't disclosed.
As Esfandiari said, he relied on his height and reach advantage and also gain a decent amount of weight during his training. Fellow poker players and friends of Antonio, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly were also present during the fight, to root for Antonio.
According to Hart's post, he wants a rematch and they'll also release highlight videos about the fight in the upcoming days.