YouTube / Mayweather Boxing Channel
YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul.
- KSI and Logan Paul, two of the most famous YouTubers of all time, will fight on Saturday August 25.
- The internet celebrities want to settle an online grudge and will slug it out at the 21,000 capacity Manchester Arena.
- The bout will be broadcast live on YouTube's pay-per-view format.
- Around 100 million people are expected to tune in and will see one clear winner - and that winner is Logan Paul.
KSI and Logan Paul, two of the most famous YouTubers of all time, are going to fight each other on Saturday.
The pair are the talk of the internet, the combat sports industry, and the wider entertainment circuit all because they want to settle an online grudge for our apparent pleasure.
They will even fight in one of England's premier boxing venues - the 21,000 capacity Manchester Arena - in an event that will be broadcast for £7/$8 on YouTube.
In one corner we have KSI, aka JJ, a 25-year-old Londoner renowned for vlogging, rapping, and for "trivialising rape" on his YouTube channel which currently has 19.2 million subscribers in multiple countries around the world.
In the other corner we have Logan Paul, a 23-year-old internet celebrity who achieved global notoriety earlier this year when he uploaded a vlog to his YouTube channel (18.1 million subscribers) that appeared to show the corpse of a man who had hung himself in the "suicide forest" near the base of Mount Fuji in Japan.
The fight was seemingly set when KSI challenged Logan Paul earlier this year and he accepted. Then it turned weird when KSI mercilessly trash-talked Paul's girlfriend and family, perhaps going too far. Now it's a grudge match of sorts.
Their fight, a low-level white-collar boxing show, could be one of the most-watched combat sports events of the year - and, naturally, people in the fight game are unhappy.
The former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping slammed the YouTubers on his podcast for "making a mockery of the sport of boxing and martial arts," while Eddie Hearn - the promoter of world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua - told TMZ that as a "hardcore boxing fan" the event "makes his skin crawl," as he believes neither YouTuber can fight and "it'll actually be terrible to watch."
If the quality of the contest will be so poor, why are we even talking about it?
Well, both KSI and Logan Paul are massive names in their field, there's a lot of pride on the line, and the loser will likely become a meme for the ages. The former cruiserweight boxing champion Johnny Nelson perhaps said it best when he told KSI and Logan Paul that "the loser [will] get bitched on every time he walks down the street." Nelson even anticipates an audience of 100 million people.
So, who is going to win?
Logan Paul, obviously - and it's not even close.
Logan Paul is the bigger, stronger, and longer man
Weight classes in combat sports exist for a reason - they bring balance to the playing field. Size mismatches are dangerous for the smaller fighter, as the larger fighter has natural advantages of weight, height, and reach.
Size in fighting absolutely matters and can absolutely make a difference. At 6 ft. 2 inches, Paul is approximately two inches taller than KSI, who is around 6 ft.
For KSI's only other white-collar boxing fight, the Joe Weller bout earlier this year, he weighed 182 pounds. That may seem big, but Logan Paul has previously claimed he weighs 200 pounds. Paul is over eight kilograms heavier than KSI. To put that in perspective, the fight this weekend could be a ruckus between a glorified super middleweight in KSI, and a small heavyweight in Logan Paul.
But height and weight are not Paul's only physical advantages - he also has a larger reach, which also matters in fighting. Having a longer reach means you can land punches from a safe distance as your opponent lacks the armspan necessary to land the same shots.
In this contest, Logan Paul is the bigger, stronger, and longer man - but physical attributes are not his only advantages.
Logan Paul has a wealth of combat sport experience
KSI may seem to be the more experienced boxer because he scored a third-round technical knockout over Joe Weller in his one previous fight at the Copper Box Arena in east London in February, but Paul has a wealth of combat experience under his belt.
"I wrestled for a majority of my life," he said during a face-off promo. "I did some MMA in high school for a couple years but no boxing. I'm just an athlete. I know Joe Weller said he was an athlete, but I'm a different beast. I'm a corn-fed Ohio boy."
Paul's claims may not be pre-fight braggadocio. According to Cleveland.com, he was a competent footballer in the US, where he played as a running back/linebacker. He apparently made 92 tackles, 62 solo, ran for over 1,400 yards and scored 18 touchdowns. He also placed fifth at a state-level wrestling tournament.
Wrestlers, as the UFC shows, can develop highly-efficient striking skills. Some of the fighters listed on Tapology's list of the 50 greatest MMA strikers of all time - like Frankie Edgar and Dan Cormier - are actually wrestlers. And Paul's athletic background means he might not struggle to develop a striking ability that is superior to KSI.
KSI, unfazed by his opponent's background as an athlete, claimed he is "a God" during a comically cringeworthy face-to-face promo, but later conceded that "sporting-wise, I have no background. I literally started boxing less than a year ago." He added: "[Paul has] got height, reach, and [is] athletic."
Logan Paul is more talented than KSI
KSI may have won his white-collar debut, but his flaws were there for all to see. He has a pawing jab, he keeps his arms low (which means he does not defend his own face), and he does not respond well to getting hit. If Weller was bigger (like Logan Paul), or had more power (like Logan Paul), he may have have been able to knock KSI down and out.
KSI, put quite simply, cannot defend himself. Weller was able to tag KSI at will during the start of the opening round when the pair faced off. There were also moments where Weller had KSI on the ropes and KSI just couldn't get Weller off of him - or, perhaps, didn't know how to get Weller off of him.
KSI only has the one white-collar bout to his name, and is at the level he probably should be - a raw, unpolished, boxing novice. But comparing him to the limited amount of sparring footage available for Logan Paul, it is Paul who looks better. Paul seemingly is able to time a punch, and is also able to land that punch with power.
In a TMZ Sports clip published in June, Logan Paul was able to knock his sparring opponent down with a counter left hook - something that actually requires a modicum of technique to pull off, technique that KSI simply does not possess.
"I grew up watching fights, and I know how fights work," Logan Paul said in the face-to-face promo video with KSI.
Based on the evidence we have seen, Paul is telling the truth - and he could turn KSI into an internet meme for the ages.