Logan Paul and KSI fight: What to expect
Internet personalities KSI and Logan Paul take their feud from the web to the boxing ring next month in an unlikely but highly publicised match
York Hall, in London’s Bethnal Green, is one of Britain’s oldest boxing venues. Opened in the 1920s, it still hosts professional bouts in front of audiences of 1,200 people.
But in its near-century, the venue has never seen anything like the event that took place last week, when more than 1,000 teenagers queued to watch two of YouTube’s biggest stars — and rivals — trade insults ahead of their highly publicised boxing match next month.
KSI, a Fifa gamer turned internet personality, and Logan Paul, who found fame posting skits on Vine and is best known for mocking the dead body of a suicide victim in one of his videos, are big names on YouTube, with almost 20 million subscribers each. They’ve been sparring verbally for months, and after KSI defeated fellow YouTube star Joe Weller in a boxing match in February, fans began piling on the pressure for KSI and Logan to have their turn in the ring.
The whole thing is very silly, very theatrical and almost completely incomprehensible if you are older than 20. It is also huge. The fight will take place in the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena on August 25, with tickets costing between 30 pounds and 150 pounds (Dh721), and it will be streamed on YouTube’s pay-perview platform for GBP6, though the company has distanced itself from the event and is not commenting on the fight.
KSI, from London, will be defending his self-proclaimed title of YouTube boxing champion (claimed earlier this year following a third-round knockout of Weller) against his American foe Paul, with various members of the pair’s “squads” — including their brothers, Deji Olatunji and Jake Paul — also agreeing to fight each other.
HUGE QUEUES
Outside York Hall, an hour before the press conference was due to start, the queue was round the corner and down the street, with those at the back being assured they had no chance of getting in but continuing to queue. They were there for the chance to see their icons, and in this multicultural London crowd, that overwhelmingly means KSI and his squad, the Sidemen.
In fact, when one of Logan’s team — the Logang — drove past the entrance in a flash car, a spontaneous chant of “[expletive] Jake Paul” began almost immediately, not dying down until the car was well down the street and into the side entrance.
It was not hard to see why they rub people up the wrong way: the pair got their start with six-second pranks on Vine, before moving on to bigger and better things, both virtually, trading Vine for YouTube, and physically, moving from Westlake in Ohio to LA.
Since then, they have been constan in the press for their antics, from manu factured drama for their YouTube cha nels to real drama with their neighbou
Last July, Jake’s $17,000-a-month (Dh62,432) rented home played host a stunt involving a burning pile of mattresses that was the final straw for ma of those living near him.
Logan has perhaps been less delibe ately obnoxious, but the same though less attitude has brought him as much trouble. In January, YouTube disowned him and demonetised his channel for a stunt in a suicide hotspot in Japan tha saw him laughing and joking around a body.
Although billed as a press conferenc the real audience were at home watch