The story of Charlie Zelenoff, Boxing’s biggest troll

Back in 2014, a man named Charlie Zelenoff made a name for himself online. However, this wasn’t a particularly good name and Zelenoff has been labeled as a troll ever since. The reason for Zelenoff’s notoriety dates back to the same year when he mercilessly criticized boxing champion Deontay Wilder online. Here, he made personal insults about Wilder’s family and even called him the N-word.

Usually, such behavior remains online and goes unpunished. But not this time. Sadly, this wouldn’t be the end of Charlie Zelenoff and since then he has continued his delusional antics online.

Charlie Zelenoff gets a beating by Deontay Wilder

Interestingly, Zelenoff actually ended up visiting Wilder in a boxing gym and signed a waiver whereby the two would spar together. Obviously, sparring against one of the best boxers in the world would be a technical masterclass for most people, but not for Zelenoff.

It goes without saying that Wilder was annoyed with Zelenoff due to his disrespect. So, he didn’t exactly kill Zelenoff, but it wasn’t nice viewing either. In short, Zelenoff got what he deserved and the majority of viewers were in favor of Wilder and how he handled the scenario. As mentioned though, this wasn’t the end of Zelenoff.

Charlie Zelenoff gets a beating by Floyd Mayweather Sr.

Again, you would think by sparring with one of boxing’s greatest ever coaches would be a valuable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn about the sweet science. Instead, Zelenoff once again showed himself up. This time, he tried to sucker punch Mayweather Sr. whilst in the ring and hit the old-timer pretty hard.

After regaining his composure by initiating a clinch, Mayweather Sr. began to show his technical prowess and started picking off the internet troll. Whilst his shots may not have had the same venom as those thrown by Wilder, he still hit hard and with intent. Eventually, Zelenoff was defeated and Mayweather had taught him a lesson in respect without completely destroying him either.

Charlie Zelenoff’s pro boxing debut

Going back before his internet notoriety, it seems that Zelenoff has always courted controversy. For the younger generation, it’s hard to remember 2008 – but it’s fair to say that back then, social media and internet culture, in general, was in its infancy.

In this year, Zelenoff somehow fought on a professional boxing promotion as a welterweight. Here, he lost to a man named Andrew Hartley. Bizarrely, Zelenoff spent most of the bout running from Hartley and even turned his back on him a few times. After growing sick of his antics, the referee eventually disqualified Zelenoff, giving him a record of 0-1 as a pro boxer.

He even got choked out during MMA sparring

In less sensational news, Zelenoff was seen sparring MMA and his luck in this martial art was no better than when he trained boxing. Here, he was caught in a standing guillotine choke and was forced to apologize.

Why? Because once again, Zelenoff tried to rush his sparring partner. This wasn’t a good idea, considering his opponent was bigger and more experienced than him. As you may have guessed, there’s a familiar pattern when it comes to Zelenoff and his sparring antics. For Zelenoff, it’s a classic case of ‘some people never learn’.

Where is Charlie Zelenoff now?

Since the infamous Wilder footage, you’d expect Zelenoff to have cooled off when it comes to trash talk and attempting to fight. Unfortunately, it seems that he’s just as wild as ever. For example, back in 2021 Kim Kardashian filed a restraining order against Zelenoff for stalking her.

Aside from this, Zelenoff has re-modeled himself as some kind of social media meme personality. Here, followers buy into his delusional image and call him ‘The GOAT’, which only further adds fuel to the fire.

These days, Zelenoff can be found on the likes of Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok – generally trash-talking, claiming to be undefeated, and talking about having hundreds of boxing fights. This leads us to our next point…

Is Charlie Zelenoff a troll or real?

Let’s put it this way, if Charlie Zelenoff was a troll then he’d probably be the most dedicated actor even and would have invested plenty of time (and beatings) into the role. This leads us to believe that Zelenoff is genuinely mentally ill, as opposed to putting on an image for clout.

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, he’s kept the same image now for over 10 years and his controversies date back to 2008 (and possibly even further). Secondly, if someone gets a restraining order on you then it’s pretty serious.

Thirdly, you’d have to be pretty crazy to say some of the things to Deontay Wilder online, let alone then going to his gym and trying to fight him. Whilst the jury is still out, there are a lot of indicators that Zelenoff is probably for real – which is pretty sad and he may have mental health issues.

Summary

Hopefully, this article has served as an education into the weird life of Charlie Zelenoff. Here, we can clearly deduct that his behavior is unusual, to say the least and this is why he’s often the source of internet gossip. Although it would be a stretch to call Zelenoff a boxer, this seems to be the main point of his persona.

At the same time, it should also be noted that those encouraging his behavior probably aren’t doing him any favors either. Finally, there’s also a strong chance that this won’t be the last of what we’ve heard from Zelenoff. Generally, he hasn’t mellowed with age so you can probably expect to hear his name at some point in the future.