Influencer Boxing – Viral Marketing Perfected
If you would have told the average YouTube or combat sports fan that Joe Weller fighting Theo Baker in August 2017 would have started a snowball impact that would lead to the likes of Eddie Hearn, Floyd Mayweather and Mike Tyson all getting personally involved in the scene of influencer boxing, you would have been laughed out of the room. But that is now the crazy circumstances that are true in 2022.
A comment that was most certainly left in a half-hearted joking manner from KSI underneath the announcement Instagram post from Joe Weller saying ‘lemme fight the winner’ was a catalyst for one of the craziest sequences of events in the internet’s history. After Joe Weller was victorious in his boxing event, he then fought KSI at the Copperbox Arena in London, selling out a crowd of 8000 people on February 3rd 2018. After months of build-up and hype, KSI won by TKO in round 3. This was free to air on YouTube on both of their channels, the views hit a 1.7 million peak making it one of the largest ever live events on YouTube in their history.
After his victory, KSI then used this platform to call out two of the biggest YouTube stars in the world from across the pond, Logan and Jake Paul.
After hype was created through a series of videos made by the three internet superstars, a battle of brothers was signed. Influencer boxing took its next step. KSI vs Logan Paul and Deji vs Jake Paul was the double headliner for another evolution. The fights took place on the 25th of August 2018 at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England as the fighters sold out the 21,000-capacity arena. There was genuinely no need to pay for any kind of marketing for the event, as the fighters managed this themselves. From diss tracks, crazy press conferences and intense face-to-face discussions with boxing legend Johnny Nelson, fans were excited to see the progress in terms of both the event and fighting ability. The fact that iconic ring announcer Michael Buffer announced the fighters showed a huge progression in such a short space of time.
Sadly, for the fans, the fights were still amateur events, making them the most viewed white-collar boxing events ever. However, the ante was certainly increased in terms of production, the £7.99 PPV fee shocked some fans, but it seemed like the only natural progression. Jake Paul was victorious, and the main event ended in a draw, who agreed to a rematch and the former called out songwriter Chris Brown.
There was a large break between this and the next event, but big moves were made. When the KSI vs Logan Paul rematch was announced, fans of both were thrilled to hear it would be a professional event and would be promoted by legendary boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who represents both Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez. The fight at the sold-out Staples Centre in LA was promoted in the UK by Sky Sports Boxing, the premier sports channel; and in the USA by DAZN, the new global boxing promotion app and streaming service. The PPV price increased to £20 but was deemed worthy by even hardcore fighting fans as esteemed professional boxers such as Devin Haney and Billy Joe Saunders were on the undercard to garner a new and younger fanbase for themselves. After over a year of build-up, the final media week including press conferences, weigh-ins, open workouts, and face-to-face discussions was reminiscent of a professional event and fans were excited. KSI managed to win via a split decision in November 2019 and it seemed to be the pinnacle and the end of the saga,
But it wasn’t. Jake Paul then announced his next fight against AnEsonGib in Miami in January 2020. This was too promoted by Eddie Hearn and DAZN but was much less successful as an event. It was seen as more of a joke as Paul won by first-round TKO and Hearn vowed not to promote a YouTube event again.
While the COVID pandemic halted UK events, the US side still pressed on. Jake Paul then proceeded to fight on Mike Tyson’s exhibition event’s undercard, as he secured a stunning KO against basketball star Nate Robinson. Then he kicked on and secured wins over ex-UFC stars Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley not once but twice, first via a unanimous decision in Cleveland and the second with ESPN’s knockout of the year the second time round in Florida, in December 2021. Jake Paul became the face of YouTube and influencer boxing during this period, as he had online beef with UFC boss Dana White and ex-fighters such as Daniel Cormier and Nate Diaz. He has since signed a deal with Showtime PPV, aiming to become one of the most famous boxers in the world.
Speaking of the best, none other than Floyd Mayweather has since gotten involved. Even though cynics claim that he has had plenty of exhibition events that are seen as cash grabs, including his bout against Conor McGregor, he fought Logan Paul on the 6th June 2021, quite the step up from KSI, mind you. The fight felt like more of a fever dream than an actual event, as no one believed it would happen. Slightly dampened by pay discrepancies and the fact there was no declared winner as it was an exhibition event, the progression from 2017 and 2018 to a YouTuber fighting the GOAT of boxing in the space of 3 years is mesmerising.
Smaller events have since happened, such as Social Gloves’ TikTok vs YouTube / UK vs USA (tainted by pay discrepancies), Deji vs Alex Wassabi (tainted by a fan running into the ring in the main event), and KingPyn’s TikTok boxing event (tainted by being seen as unprofessional) but have been nowhere near as successful.
2022 has not been the year for success in YouTube and influencer boxing. Apart from Deji vs Alex Wassabi, the three other large events have not gone ahead as originally scheduled.
- Austin McBroom vs AnEsonGib (promoted by Social Gloves) has been delayed from July until September due to an injury to the latter fighter, scheduled for the Staples Centre, now the Crypto Arena.
- Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury on August 6th (promoted by Most Valuable Promotions) was scheduled for the mecca of boxing, Maddison Square Garden. But both Fury and his replacement Hasim Rahman Jr. have ‘pulled out’/cancelled due to several reasons, making the event have to be cancelled, while there are discrepancies in terms of whether it was Paul’s fault that the event has been postponed.
- KSI vs Alex Wassabi (promoted by MisFits Boxing) has now been changed to KSI vs Swarmz (UK Rapper) scheduled for August 27th seems to be the only one still occurring, at the O2 Arena in London.
These new companies that the YouTubers have formed have faced criticism. Jake Paul is the CEO of Most Valuable Promotions, and while he is doing a great thing by paying 50% of all undercard fighters' purses, it still seems like a lack of planning as to how the event has been cancelled. MisFits Boxing, KSI’s promoting company, has faced backlash for the backup choice and their lack of experience in the ring. It looks worse for the American, as he has served his fair share of criticism to both Dana White and Eddie Hearn but seems to have egg on his face now.
Many fans see the pinnacle of this crazy series of events as naturally being KSI vs Jake Paul to settle their feud once and for all. And after this week they have verbally agreed to fight at Wembley Stadium in 2023, the end could be in sight.
What are your thoughts on influencer boxing?
