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Antonio Esfandiari Score Surprise Boxing Win Against Kevin Hart
Four months ago, comedian Kevin Hart and poker pro Antonio Esfandiari setup a friendly boxing and many gave Esfandiari little chance to win, including Hart who gave Esfandiari 35:1 odds to win.
The bout went down on Saturday and Esfandiari beat the odds and walked away the victor in the bout. While we don’t know how much he won, he certainly took away some major bragging rights.
Hard Work Pays Off For Esfandiari
It’s not often that you hear about a 35:1 underdog pulling off an upset over a superior opponent, but that’s what happened on Saturday in a Santa Monica, CA gym when Antonio Esfandiari took on Kevin Hart in an anticipated sparring match.
Typically, a man of 6 foot taking on someone just 5 ft 4 in would be a clear favorite, but Esfandiari took this bet four months back having no experience in a boxing ring. Hart has previous boxing experience and is known to be very athletic in general. That’s one reason that he gave Esfandiari long odds of 35:1. Betting just $10,000 would net Esfandiari $350,000. It’s reasonable to assume he put up more than $10k, but we don’t know what amount was wagered.
The pair went all out in the sparring contest, going three rounds at three minutes per round. According to reports, neither fighter was hurt during the contest and in the end, Esfandiari walked away the winner by decision.
Hart took to Instagram to congratulate the victor:
Two of those in attendance at the event were Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly with Tilly posting the following after the match:
All hail the champion! 🥊🥊🥊 @PhilLaak and @MagicAntonio after Antonio’s victory over @KevinHart4real in the boxing ring. pic.twitter.com/ufW2AsR3F0
— Jennifer Tilly (@JenniferTilly) April 28, 2019
Heading into the bout, Esfandiari said that he would use his height and reach to try and win the match, but nobody really gave him a shot due to Hart’s background. Not one to take a massive prop bet lightly, Esfandiari hit the gym as he came into the fight with a significant amount of muscle added and it was later revealed that he had been training for months in the gym focusing on both boxing and cardio.
Can Esfandiari Come Out on Top in a Rematch?
If you paid attention to the Instagram post from Hart, you saw that he is looking to have a rematch with Esfandiari. Whether it is to reclaim his lost money or his bruised ego from Saturday’s loss remains to be seen but he will certainly have better odds than he would at the poker table. Despite playing in multiple high roller events in recent years, Hart has yet to make any headway whatsoever.
If I were Esfandiari, I would be a bit concerned over a rematch. Now that Hart has seen the potential ability of the multi-time WSOP bracelet winner, he can start to work on a strategy to try and get his money back. Of course, the world will be able to check out Esfandiari’s boxing skills once they have put together an edited video package of the sparring contest.
This match was the latest in a line of contests involving pro poker players. Back in 2009, Gus Hansen and Theo Jorgensen battled in a boxing ring with Jorgensen coming out on top. In 2011, Lex Veldhuis stopped Bertrand Grospellier in the second round of an MMA contest. The last contest between poker pros (prior to this one) was in 2016 when Olivier Busquet defeated JC Alvarado by TKO in an MMA event, winning $150,000 in the process.
Don’t be surprised if PokerStars or other poker sites try to capitalize on a rematch between Esfandiari and Hart. Heck, we may even see Poker Central jump into the fray and stream the event live.
