Meet 17st social media star Armz Korleone, the rap artist and athlete who can bench 230kg and is set for boxing debut
SOCIAL MEDIA star Armz Korleone is a man of many talents – with boxing the next string to his bow.
The hulking 17stone Londoner has gained fame on Instagram with over 500,000 followers.
Armz is widely recognised for his astonishing physique, having competed in bodybuilding and weightlifting before.
But the 29-year-old is also a talented painter and rapper – who has tried his hand at a host of sports, including rugby and American football.
Armz regularly mixes workout posts with funny skits online – a blend which he says is behind his rise in popularity.
He told SunSport: “It’s a combination of my physique, my work ethic and my personality and how I created my videos and content.
“I always aimed to have my content be very interactive, not the normal thing you see.”
Armz has been training at London Shootfighters in mixed martial arts since last March and in September had an MMA bout against music producer ‘Bouncer’.
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It ended in a points loss for Armz, who now makes his return in boxing on Saturday night, featuring in a UK vs USA influencer event.
His dedication to combat sports has seen weight lifting take a backseat – although not parked totally.
Armz explained: “When it comes to mixed martial arts, there is no room for weight training, unless you make time.
“Mixed martial arts and boxing are two different sports, when I do my mixed martial arts training, there’s a lot of wrestling, a lot of jiu jitsu, striking, boxing, kickboxing.
“For two hours you’re constantly getting slammed on the floor, you’re doing locks, getting choked out, then you have to do striking.
“So after all of that, there’s not really any room for weight lifting. But I’ve been pushing myself, so I do still get my weight lifting in.”
Armz has been lifting weights ever since he can remember and joined a gym the moment he turned 16, when he was legally allowed to do so.
But he revealed swapping the dumbbells and bench press for heavy bags and pads has been easier than expected.
Armz said: “I love it, but I know in my head I’ll come back to it. But I’m working towards something, so in that respect I’m not wasting my time.
“The sacrifice is for something – and to be honest it’s not a sacrifice because I’m learning and gaining new skills.
“Weight lifting, my body is always going to be accustomed to it.”
Armz’s personal best bench press was a whopping 230kg – equivalent to a 36 STONE man.
He revealed: “That was at my peak. I say at my peak, that was when I was really, really immersed in weight lifting and that was all I was doing.
“So 230kg was my heaviest, 140kg at that time was my warm up!
“But right now, 140kg is my max work. But like I said, I’m coming back, I’m coming for all the weights.”
At the height of his lifting, Armz weighed as heavy as 119kg (18st 7lb) but has now dropped to 108kg (17st).
And as well as the pounds, Armz has also lost his appetite, totally switching up his eating habits.
He said: “My approach to food has never been conventional.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Oh my God, I need to eat, I need to get my calories’. Measuring their calories etc, I’ve never done that.
“Before, when I was new in the game so to speak, I would eat like eight meals religiously, everyday, I knew I had to get my meal prep in check straight away.
“Up until now, where I’ve been raising focus on myself, my approach towards food has been different. I listen to my body more.
“When it comes to food, I don’t over indulge. I don’t care about missing calories, if my body feels like it has enough energy and I can go and work, I’ll do that.
“Sometimes I don’t even eat in the morning, I’ll just have a banana or something, that’s good enough for me.”
Armz will make his boxing debut against American musician and internet personality ‘Minikon’.
And he has prepared for the bout training alongside MMA stars such as Michael ‘Venon’ Page.
It gives Armz confidence against whoever he steps foot in the ring with at Wembley Arena next week.
He said: “I don’t know much, I don’t really care. I just know he’s another body.
“When I came in here, I got thrown in the deep end, I’m used to being thrown in the deep end.
“I came here and I was sparring all these pros, world-class MMA fighters.
“You don’t have time to think, ‘Oh my God, what do I need to know? What weight is he? How hard does he punch?’
“You don’t care about that. You go in, face the music and survive.
“It’s sink or swim, and that’s the story of my life and I’ve always survived and swam.”
- The event is available on pay-per-view stream for £7 via the Showstar website here. Tickets are on sale here.