KSI vs Logan Paul: The biggest amateur boxing match in history

Bradley Cullen

KSI vs Logan Paul: The biggest amateur boxing match in history image

Ahead of what has been billed as the biggest amateur boxing match of all time, we take a look at the two controversial YouTubers and how this fight between Britain’s’ KSI and America's Logan Paul came about.

The online audience for this fight is estimated to be well over 70 million, making this not only the biggest amateur boxing match in history but also the biggest boxing, online sporting and YouTube event ever. To put it into context, Mayweather vs McGregor drew in an estimated 6.7 million global pay-per-view buys, the combined online following of KSI and Logan Paul is over 50 million.  

So, who are the two YouTubers at the center of this so-called megafight?

KSI

Olajide William ‘JJ’ Olatunji was born June 19, 1993, and came to prominence as the British YouTube personality, comedian, actor and rapper who goes by the moniker of KSI. A man of many talents, KSI has a massive online following with 19M subscribers on his YouTube channel, 4.44M on Twitter and 655K monthly listeners on Spotify. He currently has an estimated net worth of $4.2M

KSI, which stands for Knowledge, Strength and Integrity started out on YouTube in 2009 posting about video games such as FIFA 11, amassing over four billion views. In addition to his YouTube career, KSI has released two EPs. 2015 saw KSI ranked as the UK’s most influential YouTube creator. In 2016, KSI stepped onto the big screen making his feature film debut in the comedy ‘Laid in America’ alongside fellow YouTuber Casper Lee. Later, KSI would be a founding member of the online group of seven British YouTubers known as ‘The Sidemen.' The group launched their own premium web TV series in 2018.

Logan Paul

Born in Westlake, Ohio on April 1, 1995, Logan Alexander Paul is an American actor, director, internet celebrity and rapper. Paul began creating internet videos for a YouTube channel called Zoosh when he was 10 years old before gaining fame through the now-defunct Vine. By 2014 his social presence had grown to over 105K twitter and 361K Instagram followers, 31K likes on Facebook and 150K YouTube subscribers. A YouTube post, which was a compilation of his Vine videos, gained more than four million views in its first week. In 2015, Paul was ranked as the 10th most influential figure on Vine before moving over to YouTube, He currently has roughly 15M subscribers on his YouTube channel and 4.7M on his official website. Paul has an estimated net worth of $15M, including many lucrative sponsorship and endorsement deals. He has also made guest appearances on 'Law & Order: SVU' and 'Weird Loners' as well as starring roles in ‘The Thinning’ and ‘The Space Between Us." He has been in the spotlight since 2013, but not without his fair share of controversy. At the end of 2017, he was slammed on social media for his posting of a controversial video at Japan's Aokigahara forest, which is a notorious hotspot for suicide. The video depicted a recently deceased corpse of a man and resulted in tremendous backlash. Over 200,000 people signed a petition to remove the video from YouTube leading to this apology from Paul.

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KSI is no stranger to the ring. In January he defeated Joe Weller via a third-round technical knockout in front of 7,000 people at the Copper Box in London, with an additional 1.6 million viewers online.  The KSI vs. Weller fight started out as an online argument that escalated to both parties agreeing to settle their differences in a boxing ring. Around 20 million people have watched the fight in the months since it originally aired.

After the fight, KSI called out Logan Paul, his younger brother Jake and every member of the Paul family to a fight. Logan accepted the challenge although his younger brother  appeared to be the favorite to step into the ring.

 

There has been plenty of talking points during the build-up to this fight, Logan walked out of the first press conference after KSI launched into a verbal attack on his father and girlfriend.

Both men have released ‘diss’ tracks with over 20M combined views. KSI's "On Point" was released on August 17 with Logan Paul's "Goodbye KSI" coming in response was released on August 21. 

There are two contracted fights, the first taking place on August 25 in front of 21,000 people at a sold-out Manchester Arena, England. With the second fight scheduled for February 2019 in America at a location to be determined. The amateur fight is scheduled for a maximum of six rounds and both men will wear head guards. KSI is the favorite to win the fight, according to online oddsmakers.

The fight can be viewed online here, where the pair have created a joint channel for the event. It is a paid-for night of boxing, costing around $8-$10.

The undercard includes a co-main event between the two younger brothers of KSI and Logan.

  • Deji vs Jake Paul (co-main event)
  • JMX vs Coach Richard
  • MOMO vs RossiHD
  • AnEsonGib vs Jake Swingler
  • FaZe Sensei vs overtflow
  • Rackaracka vs Scarce
  • Call me Ham vs Jrizzy Jeremy

Bradley Cullen