Antonio Esfandiari Expecting a Broken Nose as Kevin Hart Fight Confirmed

The boxing match between poker legend Antonio Esfandiari and comedy star Kevin Hart is set to go ahead in mid-April according to ‘the Magician’ – and he thinks he’ll probably walk away with a broken nose or rib!

When news of the proposed prop bet bout between the good friends broke last summer, 40-year old highstakes pro Esfandiari believed the 35:1 odds he was offered were too good to turn down...

“As a professional gambler, I just can’t turn down a good bet”, explained Esfandiari last summer, adding; “When somebody offers me 35:1, I just can’t say no. How can I?”

….and as he told CardPlayer magazine this week that hasn’t changed.

“It’s definitely happening,” Esfandiari updated his fans this week. “Kevin and I talk about it quite frequently, and we joke about it often. It will be sometime in mid-April, as of the last update.”

The Magician is already in training for the bout, and is shocked at just what is involved in becoming a boxer.

“It’s just so much more complicated than you can imagine,” said Antonio. “As soon as I started training, I realized just how intricate of a sport it really is. The footwork, cardio and conditioning, reaction times, defense…”

Hart, as Esfandiari admitted last summer, is by far the more physically-able of the pair, a natural athlete despite Hart giving away a huge height and reach advantage to his poker-playing opponent.

This, admits Esfandiari, will likely see him get hurt, opining:

“…there is a very reasonable chance that I get hurt, for sure. I think that I’m probably a slight favorite to break a rib, or my nose”.

However, with his young son aware of what’s going on, and the 35-1 odds he’s getting, Esfandiari won’t be backing down from the challenge.

“At this point, I’m too committed… there’s no way I’m going to back out…my pride is on the line.”