‘I’d be honored to feel his power’: Game of Thrones ‘Mountain’ eyes Mike Tyson boxing showdown

Game of Thrones star Thor Bjornsson says it would be an honor to feel Mike Tyson's power in the boxing ring - but the giant Icelander admitted that he felt "nervous" about getting punched in the face during sparring sessions.

Bjornsson, who played The Mountain in the hit HBO series, has been training for his professional boxing debut for well over a year and was expected to fight strongman rival Eddie Hall later this month.

However, the bout was postponed after Hall suffered a detached bicep injury in training - with Bjornsson instead facing arm wrestling legend Devon Larratt on September 18. 

But despite the setback to a boxing match against Hall which has been in the works for two years, Bjornsson is willing to keep himself busy while he waits on the Briton to get back to full fitness. First will come Larratt, but after that?

"If Mike Tyson would want to fight me, I wouldn’t say no," Bjornsson told British tabloid The Sun.

"I would be honored to feel his power."

Tyson, 55, returned to the ring after an extended exile last November where he fought an eight-round exhibition against fellow veteran Roy Jones Jr. The former world heavyweight champion is expected to continue his comeback with at least one more fight, but so far no announcement has been forthcoming even as the likes of Oscar De La Hoya and Evander Holyfield confirmed their own comebacks (even if De La Hoya's has been cancelled). 

'Iron Mike' once famously said that everyone who fights him "has a plan until they get punched in the face" and this is a statement which could ring true for Bjornsson after the novice boxer admitted his initial unease at taking shots to the face.

"The first few times when I was about to go spar, I would get nervous because I knew I was going to get punched in the face, it’s not very nice," he said.

"The more I do it, the less nervous I get, now it’s more like I’m excited, because I enjoy it.

"I don’t want to be the guy laying on the floor and that’s my biggest motivation."

But for all this talk of Mike Tyson and the most fearsome arm wrestling champion in history, Bjornsson says that he still has a score to settle with Eddie Hall who has been a longtime rival of the Icelandic powerhouse on the strongman circuit.

"I don’t hate the guy, but I still want to beat him up," Bjornsson admitted.

"Not that I’m a violent person, but the things he has said to my family and to my teammates.

"It’s just so over the top that I feel like I have to get him back somehow and that’s the best way, to knock him out."