© Valerio Capello
California-born Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut beat Chicago's Pat 'Deep Dish' Bertoletti in the Pizza Hut-sponsored 'Chow-lenge', Reuters reports.
Chestnut said: "The best part is I get paid to eat. Think about it - that's probably one of the best jobs in the world, right behind rockstar and baseball player."
Bertoletti, who managed only 36 slices, added: "I don't really understand why people watch it, but I'm glad that they do. I guess it's exciting and it's kind of like a train wreck - you don't want to look away."
Speaking before the pizza-eating 'unification' title bout, chairman of Major League Eating George Shea said: "In terms of sports history, this stands alongside Mike Tyson’s reunification of the heavyweight boxing titles in 1987."
Chestnut, who lost to Japan's Japan's Takeru Kobayashi in a P'zone-eating contest last year, is ranked number one in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Bertoletti is ranked third.
