KSI vs. Logan Paul

KSI vs. Logan Paul was a white-collar amateur boxing match between the British YouTuber KSI, and American YouTuber Logan Paul. The undercard consisted of a number of YouTubers, including a bout between the headliners respective younger brothers, Deji Olatunji and Jake Paul. The bout took place on 25 August 2018 at 8:30 PM BST in the Manchester Arena, Manchester, England, and was streamed on YouTube's pay-per-view platform,[1][2][3] and resulted in a majority draw, with two judges scoring it 57–57 and the other 58–57 in favour of KSI.[4]

For the professional boxing rematch, see KSI vs. Logan Paul II.

KSI vs. Logan Paul
The official poster for KSI vs Logan Paul.
Date8:30 PM BST, 25 August 2018
VenueManchester Arena, Manchester, England
Title(s) on the lineYouTube Boxing Championship Title
Tale of the tape
Boxer KSI Logan Paul
Nickname "The Nightmare" "The Maverick"
Hometown Watford, United Kingdom Westlake, Ohio, U.S.
Pre-fight record 1–0 (1 TKO) 0–0 (boxing debut)
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) 6 ft 1.5 in (187 cm)
Weight 187.2 lb (84.9 kg) 189.6 lb (86 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition YouTube Boxing Champion State Wrestler
Result
Six round majority draw
(58–57, 57–57, 57–57)

The fight was promoted as "the biggest internet event in history"[5] and "the biggest amateur boxing match in history".[6] The rematch took place on 9 November 2019 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, this time as a professional boxing match.

Background

KSI's fight with fellow British YouTuber Joe Weller on 3 February 2018 at the Copper Box Arena in London was a success,[7] drawing 1.6 million live viewers, 21 million views within a day,[8][9] and over 25 million over the next several days, becoming the biggest white-collar boxing fight.[10] After KSI won the fight and was awarded the YouTube Boxing Championship Belt,[11] he called out the Paul brothers. He initially challenged Logan Paul's younger brother Jake to fight.[12] Jake Paul was initially the one to fight KSI. However, Jake backed down, letting his older brother Logan step in to fight KSI whilst KSI's younger brother Deji Olatunji (also known as ComedyShortsGamer) stepped in to fight Jake. Deji did not want to be fighting on the undercard of the fight, therefore it was agreed that the fight would be advertised with Deji and Jake's names being listed in the manner of a co-main event. The two parties signed contracts agreeing to have two fights, one to be held on 25 August 2018 at the Manchester Arena in the United Kingdom,[13][14] and another to be held in February 2019 in the United States. Originally, Logan and Jake Paul wanted any fight to be held in a neutral venue, preferably Dubai, United Arab Emirates, but Logan had decided to go with the two-fight plan.[12]

In an interview with TMZ on 23 July 2018, KSI admitted his aspirations of turning professional after the fight saying "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] Professional boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, in an interview, was questioned about signing KSI on a professional contract and responded "Yeah, I probably would. But he’s not gonna fight for £15,000, he’s just fought for £3 million!"[16]

Press conferences

Two press conferences were held to promote the fight. The first was held on 16 June outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles which was hosted by two-time Heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs.[17][18]

The second press conference was held on 18 July at York Hall in Bethnal Green, East London, this time hosted by YouTube personality True Geordie who commentated on the KSI vs. Joe Weller fight.[12] During the London press conference, KSI and Deji mocked both Logan and Jake, Logan's girlfriend Chloe Bennet and their father Greg Paul to the point that both Paul brothers walked out of the press conference prematurely.

Following the press conference, fans of KSI and Deji attacked Logan and Jake's cars which were rented by their friend and Las Vegas nightclub promoter Arman Izadi. Izadi threatened Deji with a lawsuit against him, claiming that Deji incited the fans to attack the Pauls and challenged Izadi to a bare-knuckle fight. Deji denied these claims and said, "the attack resulted from other factors, including the fact that Greg Paul actually assaulted a fan first.”[19][20] Associates of Izadi would subsequently vandalise the gym that Deji trained in. Izadi would admit to being responsible, which prompted Deji to have officials for the event ban Izadi from attending.[21]

After the press conference, the Pauls requested for True Geordie to not commentate on the fight, claiming that he was "biased" towards the KSI camp for allowing him to insult the Pauls without intervening.[22] After speaking over the phone, the situation was resolved and it was confirmed True Geordie would be commentating on the fight.[23]

Weigh-in
KSI and Logan Paul facing off during the weigh-in

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 Michael Buffer. KSI weighed in at 187 lb (85 kg), 2 kg heavier than his previous fight with Joe Weller.[24] Meanwhile, Logan came in at 189 lb (86 kg). KSI took part in the weigh-in wearing a Chloe Bennet mask in an attempt to taunt Logan.[25] For the co-main event, Deji weighed in at 79 kg with Paul weighing 82.5 kg.[26]

Card

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 YouTuber and athlete Coach Richard; HalalHam faced off against Jrizzy Jeremy.[27]

AnEsonGib fought TGFbro's Jay Swingler on the event's undercard.[27]

Fight details

Ticket information

The fight was held at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.[28] Tickets for the fight went on sale on 22 June after an announcement by KSI on his YouTube channel.[29] General admission tickets started at a price of £30 with the highest level package pricing at £495.[30] 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.

Broadcasting

The fight was streamed on pay-per-view on YouTube, via a YouTube channel dedicated to the fight.[2] The pay-per-view was set to cost £6 in the United Kingdom but was raised to £7.50,[31] and $10 in the United States.[32] The pay-per-view prices received negative responses from a number of fans, as KSI's past fight with Joe Weller was streamed on YouTube for free. YouTube personalities True Geordie, Joe Weller and Laurence McKenna commentated on the fight.[33] Iconic ring announcer Michael Buffer announced the fighters.[34]

Piracy concerns

Due to the high profile of the event in the social and online world, and the use of pay-per-view instead of the usual free YouTube streaming, pirate streams of the fight became a concern for promoters.[35] In a video by Jake Paul,[36] 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 discourage fans from advertising illegal streams in protest against the use of pay-per-view.[37] KSI tried to address 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."[38] After the fight, it emerged that over 1.2 million people watched the fight over pirated Twitch streams, meaning over $12 million in potential pay-per-view revenue was not realized.[39]

Purses

The purse for the fight is split 50/50. Although official details for it 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.[40][41] 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.[42]

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.[43][44] YouTube took a 30% share of the pay-per-view revenue, with the remaining 70% split evenly between KSI and Logan Paul, each receiving a 35% share. Logan's share was in turn split with his brother Jake, and Logan estimates that a further 30% of his earnings went towards expenses including administration, production, venues, coaches, travel, accommodation, managers, lawyers, and agents.[45]

Belt

With the result being a draw, KSI retained the YouTube championship belt. The belt is of red colour with gold motifs. Its design features an eagle with its wings fully spread atop a golden globe with a crown at its centre. The belt was presented to KSI at his previous fight by professional boxer Derek Chisora.[46]

Officials and rules
  • Referee: Gareth Morris
  • Judges: Delilah Ponce, Gino Piccinino and Gareth Morris

The main event was contested over 6 rounds 3 minutes each. Both athletes agreed to box in 12oz gloves, which is a size often used for amateur boxing fights between the middleweight and heavyweight divisions.[47]

Betting odds
ResultBet365SkyBetLadbrokesWilliam Hill
KSI11/1016/56/5
Logan Paul4/64/58/138/14
DrawN/A181616

Odds as of 24 August 2018.[48]

Fight card

[27]

vs. Method Round Notes
KSI vs. Logan Paul MD 6/6 [n 1]
Jake Paul def. Deji Olatunji TKO 5/6
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 (Call me Ham) def. Jrizzy Jeremy UD 3/3
  1. For YouTube Boxing Championship title

Recap and aftermath

After Jake Paul beat Deji by technical knockout, he called out American singer-songwriter Chris Brown,[49] 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.”,[50] after the Jake-Deji fight Bugzy Malone performed songs from his new album B. Inspired.[51] The fight was also attended by multiple celebrities such as Jake Wood,[52] Wes Nelson[53] and professional UFC fighter, Jimi Manuwa.[54]

Scorecard
Gareth Morris Gino Piccinino Delilah Ponce
KSIPaulKSIPaulKSIPaul
585757575757

Source:[55]

Reception

Pre-match

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.[56][57] Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who trained KSI prior to the match,[58] called the fight "an insulting mockery" to professional boxing and martial arts, stating in the 76th episode of his Believe You Me podcast, "I find it almost insulting to everybody that has dedicated their life to being a fighter. Come up the hard way, been a lifelong boxer or martial artist and then these two come in… they’re almost making a mockery of the sport of boxing and martial arts."[59][60] Bisping has since removed the episode in question from his YouTube channel.

Viewership and revenue

The pre-fight promotional videos uploaded to the official KSI vs Logan Youtube channel have received over 63 million views, including over 30 million views on the official fight trailers.[61] In addition, the promotional diss track music videos from KSI, Logan Paul, Jake Paul and Deji have received nearly 110 million views.[62][63][64][65]

The fight sold-out 21,000 tickets for Manchester Arena, in comparison to the 8,000 tickets sold at the Copper Box Arena for the previous KSI vs. Joe Weller fight.[66] The fight generated an estimated live gate revenue of over £2.7 million ($3.5 million ) from ticket sales.[67]

The fight was watched by over 2.25 million live viewers, including over 1.05 million watching pay-per-view[43] and 1.2 million watching illegal streams on Twitch.[32][68][69] The official KSI vs Logan YouTube channel has received over 115 million views as of 30 September 2020.[70]

Pay-per-view numbers

The fight generated a total of 1.3 million pay-per-view buys worldwide,[71] on YouTube and the KSI vs Logan Paul official website combined,[72] including over 800,000 live purchases.[43][73] This makes it the largest non-professional boxing match of all time.[lower-alpha 1]

Notes
  1. See Pay-per-view § List of pay-per-view bouts.

See also

References
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  2. Hern, Alex (20 July 2018). "KSI v Logan Paul: YouTubers trash talk ahead of world wide web title fight". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. Haigh, Phil (22 August 2018). "KSI vs Logan Paul fight time, date, tickets, odds and undercard". Metro. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  4. "KSI vs Logan Paul: YouTube boxing fight ends in a draw". BBC. 25 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  5. Hamdani, Adam (25 August 2018). "KSI and Logan Paul weigh-in ahead of 'biggest internet event in history'". The Independent. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  6. Radio Times Staff (22 August 2018). "KSI v Logan Paul: why are YouTube's biggest stars going to fight in the boxing ring?". Radio Times. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  7. Sharman, Jon (6 February 2018). "KSI vs Joe Weller: Millions watch YouTube stars' boxing match". The Independent.
  8. Hardiman, Jess (4 February 2018). "KSI Vs Weller Got Over 20 Million Views On YouTube Last Night". LADbible.
  9. Lindsay, Jessica (5 February 2018). "KSI vs Joe Weller has had over 20 Million views since Saturday". Metro.
  10. "KSI Reveals What He Said to Joe Weller in the Ring During a Breakdown of the YouTuber Boxing Fight". Dexerto. 7 February 2018.
  11. "KSI Wants You to Choose One of Six Personalities to Fight Next for the YouTube Boxing Championship Belt". Dexerto. 19 February 2018.
  12. "KSI Vs Logan Paul Fight: All The Details Inc. Dates, Venue & More". Capital. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  13. Chambers, Georgia (22 August 2018). "KSI vs Logan Paul fight: Everything you need to know about the boxing match including tickets and how to watch on YouTube". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  14. "YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI confirm boxing showdown in Manchester". Sky News. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  15. TMZSports (23 July 2018). "KSI Says Logan Paul Fight is a Stepping Stone to Pro Boxing Career – TMZ Sports" – via YouTube.
  16. Powers, Adam (29 August 2018). "KSI v Logan Paul: Eddie Hearn reveals whether he'd sign KSI as a pro".
  17. Kent, Mike (18 June 2018). "Syndicate Explains Why the KSI vs Logan Paul Press Conference Was Stopped – Plus Behind the Scenes Footage". Dexerto. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  18. "Logan Paul and KSI Nearly Come to Blows at Superfight News Conference". TMZ. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  19. Weiss, Geoff (24 July 2018). "Ahead Of Boxing Match, Deji Olatunji Says He's Being Sued For Greg Paul Press Conference Assault". Tubefilter.
  20. Muggleton, Warren (23 July 2018). "KSI's brother Deji claims he's being SUED after Logan Paul's dad attacked in street". Daily Star.
  21. Aspiration (4 August 2018). "DEJI gets ARMANI BANNED from THE FIGHT(KSI VS LOGAN PAUL)" – via YouTube.
  22. Logan Paul Vlogs (28 July 2018). "DEAR KSI, HERE'S WHY I WALKED OFF STAGE..." – via YouTube.
  23. True Geordie (1 August 2018). "LOGAN PAUL CALLED ME..." – via YouTube.
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  25. Youngs, Ian (24 August 2018). "YouTube heavyweights set for boxing fight" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
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  27. Richards, Alex (25 August 2018). "KSI vs Logan Paul undercard results: Who won as YouTube boxers clashed in Manchester". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  28. "KSI v Logan Paul – Manchester Arena". www.manchester-arena.com.
  29. KSI (21 June 2018). "IT'S FINALLY HERE!!" – via YouTube.
  30. "eventim.co.uk". www.eventim.co.uk.
  31. Kelly, Emma (19 July 2018). "KSI and Logan Paul's fight will cost £6 for you to watch on YouTube". Metro. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  32. Alexander, Julia (26 August 2018). "KSI and Logan Paul's $10 YouTube fight proved Twitch pirates always win". Polygon. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  33. Deason, Ross (31 July 2018). "The True Geordie Will Commentate on the Logan Paul vs KSI Fight After All". Dexerto. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  34. Patterson, Calum (19 July 2018). "Ring Announcer Michael Buffer Will Introduce the KSI vs Logan Paul Boxing Match". Dexterto. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  35. Katzowitz, Josh (20 July 2018). "The KSI-Logan Paul YouTube boxing match will be a PPV event". The Daily Dot.
  36. Jake Paul (21 August 2018). "JAKE PAUL REACTING TO KSI'S LOGAN PAUL DISS TRACK." – via YouTube.
  37. Griffin, Andrew (26 August 2018). "Free Logan Paul vs KSI streams are already appearing. But there's a big catch". The Independent. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  38. Olatunji, Olajide [@KSIOlajidebt] (19 July 2018). "Just wanted to address those asking why we're charging to see the fight. The cost of the event itself is on another level to last time. Plus the press conferences, weigh-in and making other content for the new channel, all adds up" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  39. Nino, Joshua (26 August 2018). "How Many People Watched KSI vs Logan Paul: Pay-Per-View and Illegal Stream Numbers". Dexterto. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  40. Jones, Mark (26 August 2018). "KSI vs Logan Paul prize money: How much YouTube stars made from fight". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
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  43. Benson, Michael (28 August 2018). "KSI reveals official PPV numbers from the Logan Paul fight, discusses earnings". talkSPORT. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
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  62. KSI – ON POINT (LOGAN PAUL DISS TRACK) on YouTube
  63. LOGAN PAUL – GOODBYE KSI (DISS TRACK) FEAT. KSI on YouTube
  64. Jake Paul – “Champion” (Official Music Video, feat. Jitt n Quan) on YouTube
  65. Deji – Wasteman (Jake Paul Diss Track) on YouTube
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  72. 161385360554578 (29 August 2018). "KSI reveals official PPV numbers from the Logan Paul fight, discusses earnings". talkSPORT. Retrieved 3 March 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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