An ex-pro arm wrestling champion turned casino tycoon is pouring his competitive streak into concrete, commissioning a gigantic statue of Jesus that he wants to stand shoulder to shoulder with Christ the Redeemer in Rio. The project is already stirring a mix of awe, skepticism, and anger, especially from a local church that argues the towering figure has more to do with ego and business than devotion. As the structure climbs higher, it is joining a global race to build ever larger images of Jesus, each one trying to outdo the last in height, symbolism, or spectacle.
Pitched as a future landmark and tourist magnet, the new statue is meant to serve as a kind of spiritual billboard visible for miles. Its scale and backstory, involving a self-made millionaire with a taste for casinos and world titles, raise a familiar question that surfaces whenever a colossal Christ appears on a hillside: where does faith end and branding begin?
The arm wrestling tycoon and his towering Christ
The driving force behind the latest mega statue is an ex-pro arm wrestler who also built a fortune as a casino tycoon, and he is unapologetic about thinking big. Reporting describes him as a former world champion in arm wrestling who now wants a gigantic Jesus figure that can rival Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer in global recognition, treating the project almost like another title fight he intends to win. His plan calls for a monumental structure that dominates the skyline near his business interests, with the image of Jesus effectively becoming the calling card for a wider entertainment and tourism complex anchored by his casinos and related developments, according to detailed coverage.
The same reporting notes that the statue is not just a quiet act of piety but a calculated move to create a destination that can compete with iconic religious sites around the world, including the famous Christ on Corcovado. The ex-pro arm wrestler leans heavily on his reputation as a world champion, and one report describes how the giant Jesus statue is framed as the next step in a life defined by outsized wins. That framing helps explain why the project is so confrontational in its ambition: it is not enough for the statue to be tall, it has to be seen as a serious challenger to Christ the Redeemer in both height and fame, with the tycoon’s personal story poured into the concrete.
Local church backlash and a holy height contest
That swagger has landed badly with local religious leaders, who see the project as a commercial stunt wrapped in sacred imagery. The church closest to the site has pushed back hard, arguing that the tycoon is effectively using Jesus as a logo for gambling and nightlife rather than as a focus of worship. According to one account, the dispute has grown sharp enough that the church is actively fighting the project, with clergy and parishioners questioning whether a statue conceived by a casino magnate can genuinely serve as a place of prayer. The tension reflects a wider discomfort with how faith symbols are deployed in big-money ventures, and the controversy around the toss up over between this statue and other towering Christs has only sharpened that debate.
Part of the argument turns on a very literal measurement contest. Christ the Redeemer, according to official figures, stands 30 meters high, or 98 feet, with a pedestal that brings the total to 38 meters, or 125 feet, and it is recognized as a National Historic Heritage landmark in Brazil. In the last few years, newer statues have tried to leapfrog that record, including Christ the Protector in the small Brazilian town of Encantado, which is described as a 143-Foot figure of Jesus that is even taller than Rio’s Christ. Another report on the same Encantado project notes that the 143-Foot Statue of still faces competition from other giant Christs in Poland. Into this crowded field steps the arm wrestling tycoon’s statue, which is already being compared in height tables and tourism brochures before the concrete is even finished, turning a local church fight into one more chapter in a global race to build the tallest Jesus on earth.
A global boom in mega-Jesus monuments
The arm wrestler’s project slots into a broader wave of supersized religious monuments that are reshaping skylines from Latin America to the Caucasus. In Brazil, the Encantado statue known as Christ the Protector has been touted as a new attraction for a town of just 22,880 people, with coverage pointing out that a Small Brazilian Town a Foot Statue of Jesus that is Even Taller Than Rio’s Iconic Christ the Redeemer. A separate report on a Brazilian town builds on that idea, describing how Protective Christ on Morro das Antenas in Encanta is designed explicitly to be taller than the statue in Rio. Beyond Brazil, an Armenian millionaire, identified as An Armenian businessman in one report, set out to build a Jesus Christ statue twice the height of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer, a plan that has drawn both praise and criticism according to project descriptions.
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