KSI VS Logan Paul: A New Era for YouTube

How did two content creators, who are making their pro-boxing debut, sell out one of the most popular arenas in the country?

Mohammed Khadrane, Reporter|November 12, 2019

This+was+the+faceoff+between+Logan+and+KSI+after+their+official+weigh+in+a+day+before+their+first+fight.+Many+people+believed+that+both+fighters+didnt+take+their+opponent+seriously.

KSIvsLogan [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)]

This was the faceoff between Logan and KSI after their official weigh in a day before their first fight. Many people believed that both fighters didn’t take their opponent seriously.

I have never really been a boxing fan, until I heard about YouTube boxing. KSI and Logan Paul on the trending page. The rivalry of these two was gaining more and more popularity every single day and I couldn’t help but be intrigued.

The story of these Youtubers goes way back to January of 2018, when Logan Paul became the most controversial person in media after showing a dead body on a YouTube video. On the other side of the country, KSI was training to branch out from being a video game content creator and a rapper to a boxer, training to fight Joe Weller, another YouTuber turned boxer, in February. After that fight, in which KSI won, KSI called out Logan as he felt that he needed a proper whooping. Logan Paul and KSI went back and forth for months on YouTube, creating videos insulting one another and trying to workout a fight date, until they decided on a date in August.

This was in the middle of round four of the first fight. After using all of his energy in the first few rounds, Logan Paul began to get pummeled by KSI.

Logan Paul was known for being very athletic, as he was a state champion for wrestling in his high school days. This seemed like a risk for KSI to challenge such a beast of a human, but he didn’t care, he wanted to stand up to a bully. KSI, however, did have a previous amateur boxing fight with Joe Weller, which gave him an advantage over Logan Paul. The fact that Logan Paul had an athletic advantage, and KSI had experience boxing, made people wonder who would win. Once fight night came around, the Manchester arena was packed to its limit, filled with fans ready to to watch someone get knocked out. However, this was not the case, the match ended in a majority draw. Some people were lead to believe that the match was fixed or rigged. The match broke amateur boxing records and over a million people watched it live.

The aftermath of the fight showed both opponents responding to the fight, telling their audience that they should have won the fight. Many YouTubers reported on the fight, such as PewDiePie, Keemstar, and members from the FaZe Clan. I spoke to high school track runner Adam Leschinger and senior Darren Agapay about their thoughts on both fighters. Both students stated that Logan Paul had too much confidence going into the fight. They had liked how calm and collected KSI was acting, and thought that he was a better fighter mentally.

Adam Leschinger after speaking his thoughts on the fighters. He is a big fan of KSI.

A rematch was announced three days after the fight, slated to take place in May, 2019. This didn’t fit the schedule of the fighters, however, so the rematch was delayed. Fans started to get hopeless as it seemed like we were not going to get a rematch anytime soon, until the 3rd of September, when both fighters announced on social media that the rematch was officially going to take place on November 9th, 2019. This time, the fight was going to be professional: no headgear and 10 ounce boxing gloves.

This was round five out of six in the rematch. The crowd noticed that Logan Paul had much better endurance this time, but it wasn’t enough to win him the fight.

The rematch took place in Paul’s home country of the United States at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The previous fight had taken place in KSI’s home country of the UK in the Manchester arena. Both events sold out. The rematch was very different than its predecessor, although the fight went on to the judges in the end of the sixth round, just like the first fight. Celebrities were all over the event, such as artist Justin Bieber, who came out to support Logan Paul. There were many important moments that defined the fight, such as Logan’s 2 point reduction and KSI’s knockdown that was not counted. At the end of the fight, the judges ruled that KSI had won the fight, making KSI undefeated in both amateur and professional boxing.

Logan Paul was the favorite to win both fights. In the end, KSI ultimately defeated Logan after battling for six rounds.
After the fight, Logan Paul and KSI embraced each other, squashing any personal issues that they had with each other out of the respect they had for one another. Win or lose, stepping into the ring to fight in front of millions after preparing for months earned them both respect that they deserve. The event was historic, proving that, on the internet, anything is possible: two kids that had no experience in boxing whatsoever two years ago, and yet they sold out 20,000+ arena with them headlining. The story that these two controversial, yet inspirational, influencers have given us will impact social media and entertainment for years to come.