Eating champ downs 45 slices of pizza

Joey Chestnut, 24, takes title by accomplishing feat in just 10 minutes

	"Humble" Bob Shoudt of Royersford, Pa., left, and fellow competitive eater Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., devour slices of cheese pizza at the first Famous Famiglia World Pizza Eating Championship contest Sunday in New York City. Chestnut ate 45 cheese slices in 10 minutes to win the contest.
Rhonda Vanover / Getty Images

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updated 10:50 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2008

NEW YORK - Chowdown champ Joey Chestnut has done it again — this time proving he's a pizza powerhouse.

He downed 45 slices in 10 minutes Sunday to win the first Famous Famiglia World Pizza Eating Championship in New York's Times Square.

The 24-year-old from San Jose, Calif., says he fasted for more than a day to prepare. He folded and squeezed the slices to make them easier to swallow.

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Chestnut rocketed to competitive-eating celebrity when he won Coney Island's July Fourth hot-dog eating contest in 2007. He took the title again this summer by gulping down 59 dogs in 10 minutes.

He won a contest in Tennessee last month by wolfing down 93 Krystal hamburgers in 8 minutes.