Date | 25 August 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Venue | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
6-round majority draw (58–57, 57–57, 57–57) |
Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paul wins via 5th-round TKO |
KSI vs Logan Paul was a white-collar amateur crossover boxing match between English influencer KSI and American influencer Logan Paul. The undercard included several influencers, featuring a match between the younger brothers of the main event fighters, Deji Olatunji and Jake Paul. [3] The bout took place on 25 August 2018 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. It was streamed on YouTube's pay-per-view platform [4] [5] and ended in a majority draw, with two judges scoring it 57–57 and the other judge scoring it 58–57 in favour of KSI. [6]
The fight was promoted as "the biggest internet event in history" [7] and "the biggest amateur boxing match in history". [8] It sold 1.3 million PPV buys. [9] The rematch took place on 9 November 2019 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, this time as a professional boxing match.
KSI's fight with fellow British influencer Joe Weller, another Upload Agency event, was viewed by millions. The fight took place on 3 February 2018 at the Copper Box Arena in London. [10] Joe Weller, who had never previously boxed as an amateur or professional, faced KSI. After KSI emerged as the winner and was awarded the YouTube Boxing Championship belt, an unofficial and unrecognised belt created for this event, he called out the Paul brothers, Jake and Logan. [11] Initially, KSI challenged Jake Paul, Logan Paul's younger brother, to a fight. However, Jake backed down, allowing Logan to step in and fight KSI. At the same time, Jake fought KSI's younger brother, Deji Olatunji, also known as ComedyShortsGamer at the time. Deji had reservations about fighting on the undercard, so it was agreed that the fight would be advertised with both Deji and Jake's names listed as a co-main event, ensuring equal importance for both pairs.
The two parties signed contracts for two fights, and on March 18 2018, the fight was officially announced with a trailer on KSI's YouTube channel. The first fight was scheduled for 25 August 2018 at the Manchester Arena in England, [12] [13] and the second fight was planned for February 2019 in the United States. Originally, Logan and Jake Paul preferred a neutral venue, preferably Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but Logan ultimately agreed to the two-fight plan. [14]
During an interview with TMZ on 23 July 2018, KSI revealed his aspirations of turning professional after the fight. He stated, "I wanna squeeze out every bit of relevancy from him (Logan Paul) and then move onto my bigger goal which is to go pro". [15]
Two press conferences were held to promote the fight. The first took place on 16 June outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles and was hosted by two-time heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs. [16]
The second press conference occurred on 18 July at York Hall in London. This time, it was hosted by YouTube personality True Geordie, who had provided commentary for the KSI vs Joe Weller fight. [14] During the London press conference, KSI and Deji ridiculed Logan, Jake, Logan's then-girlfriend Chloe Bennet, and his father Greg Paul to such an extent that both Paul brothers left the press conference prematurely.
Following the press conference, fans of KSI and Deji attacked Logan and Jake's rental cars, which were arranged by their friend and Las Vegas nightclub promoter Arman Izadi. Izadi threatened Deji with a lawsuit, accusing him of inciting the fans to attack the Pauls and challenging Izadi to a bare-knuckle fight.[ citation needed ] Deji denied these accusations and stated, "the attack resulted from other factors, including the fact that Greg Paul actually assaulted a fan first.” [17] Thereafter associates of Izadi would subsequently vandalise the gym that Deji trained in. Izadi admitted responsibility, prompting Deji to have officials for the event ban Izadi from attending. [18]
The weigh-in was held on 24 August 2018 and was co-hosted by the same host as the London press conference, True Geordie, as well as professional boxing announcer Michael Buffer. KSI weighed in at 187.2lb (84.9kg), 1.9kg heavier than his previous fight with Joe Weller. [19] Meanwhile, Logan Paul came in at 189.6lb (86kg). [20] KSI took part in the weigh-in wearing a mask of the face of Chloe Bennet, Logan's girlfriend at the time, in an attempt to taunt Logan and use psychological warfare. [21] For the co-main event, Deji weighed in at 174.4lb (79.1kg) with Jake Paul weighing in at 181.9lb (82.5kg). [22]
On the fight's undercard, JMX was expected to fight TGFbro's Romell Henry, but Henry later pulled out due to injury and was replaced by HalalHam. It was later revealed that JMX would instead be fighting influencer and athlete Coach Richard; HalalHam faced off against Jrizzy Jeremy. [3]
AnEsonGib fought TGFbro's Jay Swingler on the event's undercard. Michael Philippou from Rackaracka also boxed Scarce and won by technical knockout. [3]
The fight was held at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. [23] Tickets for the fight went on sale on 22 June after an announcement by KSI on his YouTube channel. [24] General admission tickets started at a price of £30 with the highest level package pricing at £495. [25] They had elected to go with Eventim UK for distribution of sales. Tickets made available priced from £30, £40, £50, £60, £80, £100, £150 and VIP £495. Although the event was jointly promoted by Upload Events, Maverick Media and OP Talent, Upload Events were the lead promoter of the fight.
The fight was streamed on pay-per-view on YouTube, through a dedicated YouTube channel for the event. [5] The pay-per-view was priced at $10 in the United States. [26] However, the pricing received negative feedback from several fans, considering that KSI's previous fight with Joe Weller had been streamed on YouTube for free. The fight featured commentary from YouTube personalities: True Geordie, Joe Weller, and Laurence McKenna. [14] Additionally, the fighters were announced by the iconic ring announcer, Michael Buffer. [27]
Due to the event's high profile in the social and online world, along with the utilisation of pay-per-view instead of the usual free YouTube streaming, promoters became concerned about pirate streams of the fight. [28] In a video by Jake Paul, [29] he stated that "anyone who is planning on illegally streaming or torrenting the fight won't be able to as employees from Google and YouTube will be taking down and disabling streams all through the night." However, this did not dissuade fans from promoting illegal streams as a form of protest against the implementation of pay-per-view. [30]
KSI addressed the use of pay-per-view via Twitter stating, "The cost of the event itself is on another level to last time (the KSI vs Joe Weller fight). Plus the press conferences, weigh-in and making other content for the new channel, all adds up." [31]
After the fight, it was revealed that over 1.2 million people had watched pirated Twitch streams, [32] resulting in an estimated loss of pay-per-view revenue of approximately $8-10 million. [33] [34]
The purse for the fight is split 50/50. Although official details haven't been revealed, there have been estimates of their potential earnings. According to one estimate, the total revenue is believed to be £150 million, including lucrative sponsorship deals that the pair signed, with KSI and Logan Paul each receiving up to £75 million. [35] Another estimate gives the potential earnings of KSI and Logan Paul at £30 million to £40 million each, from ticket sales, online views, sponsorship deals, and merchandise sales. [36] However, both KSI and Logan Paul have dismissed these estimates. KSI stated that his earnings are "a high amount, but it's nowhere near £40m" or £20 million. [37] [38]
With the result being a draw, KSI retained the YouTube World Championship belt. An unofficial and unrecognised belt was created for this event. [39]
The main event was contested over 6 rounds 3 minutes each.
Result | Bet365 | SkyBet | Ladbrokes | William Hill |
---|---|---|---|---|
KSI | 11/10 | 1 | 6/5 | 6/5 |
Logan Paul | 4/6 | 4/5 | 8/13 | 8/14 |
Draw | — | 18 | 16 | 16 |
Odds as of 24 August 2018. [40]
vs. | Method | Round | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KSI | vs | Logan Paul | MD | 6/6 | YouTube World Championship Title | [n 1] |
Jake Paul | def. | Deji Olatunji | TKO | 5/6 | WBC YouTube Championship Title | |
AnEsonGib | def. | Jay Swingler | UD | 4/4 | ||
Momo | def. | RossiHD | UD | 3/3 | ||
JMX | def. | Coach Richard | UD | 4/4 | ||
FaZe Sensei | def. | Overtflow | TKO | 3/3 | ||
Michael Philippou | def. | Scarce | TKO | 3/3 | ||
Halal Ham | def. | Jrizzy Jeremy | UD | 3/3 |
After Jake Paul defeated Deji by technical knockout, he called out American singer-songwriter Chris Brown, [41] saying "I know you were supposed to fight Soulja Boy. But I think it is time you got in the ring with someone your own size.” [42] The fight was attended by multiple celebrities such as Jimi Manuwa. [43]
Gareth Morris | Gino Piccinino | Delilah Ponce | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
KSI | Paul | KSI | Paul | KSI | Paul |
58 | 57 | 57 | 57 | 57 | 57 |
Source: [44]
The fight and the lead-up to it caught the attention of mainstream media as well as professional boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, and boxers such as Floyd Mayweather, Tyson Fury, Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton. [45] [46]
The pre-fight promotional videos uploaded to the official KSI vs Logan YouTube channel have garnered over 63 million views, with the official fight trailers alone amassing over 30 million views. [47] Additionally, the promotional diss track music videos from KSI, Logan Paul, Jake Paul, and Deji have accumulated nearly 110 million views. [48] [49] [50] [51]
The fight successfully sold-out 21,000 tickets for the Manchester Arena, a significant increase compared to the 8,000 tickets sold for the previous KSI vs Joe Weller fight at the Copper Box Arena. [52] The fight generated an estimated live gate revenue of over £2.7 million ($3.5 million) from ticket sales. [53]
In total, over 2.25 million viewers had watched the fight live, with an estimated 1.05 million tuning in via pay-per-view [37] and 1.2 million watching illegal streams on Twitch. [26] [54] As of June 2023, the official KSI vs Logan YouTube channel has amassed over 122 million views. [55]
The fight sold 1.3 million PPV buys, [56] when combining purchases on YouTube and the KSI vs Logan Paul official website. [57] This includes over 800,000 live purchases, [37] making it the largest non-professional amateur boxing match of all time. [a]
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
White-collar boxing is a form of boxing in which people in white-collar professions train to fight at special events. Most have had no prior boxing experience.
Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji, better known by his online alias KSI, is an English influencer, professional boxer, and musician. He is a co-founding member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the CEO of Misfits Boxing, and the co-owner of Prime Hydration, XIX Vodka, Sidemen Clothing, restaurant chain Sides, cereal brand Best Breakfasts, and pre-made lunch brand Lunchly.
Logan Alexander Paul is an American influencer, professional wrestler, entrepreneur, and actor. He has over 23 million subscribers on his YouTube channel Logan Paul Vlogs, and has ranked on the Forbes list for the highest-paid YouTube creators in 2017, 2018, and 2021. He is the co-founder of beverage company Prime and snack brand Lunchly. Paul has also run the Impaulsive podcast since November 2018, which has over four million YouTube subscribers. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE since June 2022 where he performs on a part-time basis as part of the Raw brand and is a former WWE United States Champion.
Jake Joseph Paul is an American professional boxer, influencer and actor. He began his career posting videos on Vine in September 2013 and had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 billion views before the app was discontinued. As an actor, he played Dirk Mann on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark (2016–2018). Paul launched his YouTube channel Jake Paul in May 2014, and has ranked on the Forbes list as one of the highest paid YouTube creators in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2023.
Whindersson Nunes Batista, also known musically as Lil Whind, is a Brazilian YouTuber, comedian, actor, musician and boxer. His YouTube channel became the most subscribed channel in Brazil, but it was eventually surpassed by Canal KondZilla.
"On Point" is a song by British YouTuber and rapper KSI. The song was produced by JT, Wallis Lane, Kes Ingoldsby and Heat On Da Beat. It was independently released for digital download and streaming on 17 August 2018 as a standalone single. "On Point" is a diss track aimed at American YouTuber Logan Paul, released in the build-up to the pair's forthcoming amateur boxing match. The song was used as KSI's entrance music for the boxing match, held on 25 August 2018 at the Manchester Arena, England, which resulted in a majority draw.
KSI vs. Logan Paul II was a cruiserweight professional boxing match contested between English YouTuber KSI and American YouTuber Logan Paul. The bout was held on November 9, 2019, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. KSI defeated Paul via split decision, with two judges scoring the bout 56–55 and 57–54 in favour of KSI, and a third judge scoring the fight 56–55 in favour of Paul.
"Down Like That" is a song by British YouTuber and rapper KSI featuring American rappers Rick Ross and Lil Baby and British singer-songwriter S-X. Produced by the latter and written alongside Byron Trice, it was released for digital download and streaming by RBC Records and BMG on 8 November 2019 as the lead single from KSI's debut studio album, Dissimulation (2020). "Down Like That" stood as KSI's first release through the record label after signing with them in the October of that year.
Thomas Michael John Fury is a British professional boxer and reality television personality. He took time off from his boxing career in 2019 to star in the fifth series of the ITV2 dating reality television show Love Island. Along with ex-fiancée Molly-Mae Hague the couple finished as runners-up of the series. He is the younger brother of former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.
TGFbro is an English YouTube channel created in 2012 by Jamie "Jay" Swingler and Romell Henry. The channel primarily consisted of vlogs, challenges, extreme pranks, stunts, and music videos. As of April 2024, the channel has over 1.46 billion views and 6.17 million subscribers.
Brandon Montel Scott, known professionally as Swarmz, is an English rapper and professional boxer.
YouTubers vs. TikTokers, billed as Battle of the Platforms, was an exhibition boxing event which featured YouTubers and TikTokers. The main event was between American YouTuber Austin McBroom and American TikToker Bryce Hall. The co-main event was between YouTuber AnEsonGib and TikToker Tayler Holder. It was held on June 12, 2021, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
KSI vs Jake Paul is a proposed professional crossover boxing match contested between YouTubers KSI and Jake Paul. If the fight occurs, it is expected to take place at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
2024 in Misfits Boxing is the third year in the history of Misfits Boxing, a crossover boxing promotion founded by English influencer KSI and run by Mams Taylor, Kalle Sauerland and Nisse Sauerland. Misfits Boxing held 8 events in 2024.
2023 in Misfits Boxing was the second year in the history of Misfits Boxing, a crossover boxing promotion founded by English YouTuber KSI and run by Mams Taylor, Kalle and Nisse Sauerland. Misfits Boxing held 8 events in 2023.
MF & DAZN: X Series 004 featured KSI vs FaZe Temperrr, which was a cruiserweight MF–professional crossover boxing match contested between English YouTuber KSI and Brazilian YouTuber FaZe Temperrr for the MFB cruiserweight title. The bout took place at Wembley Arena in London, England on 14 January 2023. The fight reportedly sold 300,000 PPV buys.
2022 in Misfits Boxing was the inaugural year in the history of Misfits Boxing, a crossover boxing promotion founded by English YouTuber KSI and run by Mams Taylor, Kalle and Nisse Sauerland.
MF & DAZN: X Series 10 – The Prime Card, billed as Judgement Day, was a professional crossover boxing event. Whilst the fight card consists of eleven bouts, two cruiserweight bouts served as a double feature. The first, KSI vs Tommy Fury, contested between English internet personality KSI and English professional boxer Tommy Fury. The second, Logan Paul vs Dillon Danis, contested American internet personality and WWE superstar Logan Paul and American mixed martial artist Dillon Danis.
The Saturday night fight ended in a draw after six rounds but the windfall from ticket sales, online viewers, sponsors and merchandise meant both men departed as winners, with a lucrative rematch due to take place in February. [...] Organisers have not revealed details of the purse split but boxing experts have speculated that the vloggers could make as much as £30 million to £40 million each depending on how many fans pay to watch replays.
Then I heard very quickly that they did 1.3 million pay-per-view buys.