YouTuber KSI beats rival Logan Paul in boxing rematch
Britain’s KSI has won his six-round cruiserweight boxing fight against fellow YouTube personality, the American Logan Paul, in Los Angeles.
The fight at the Staples Centre was won by the Watford man in a split decision by 55-56, 57-54, 56-55. The pair first fought last year in Manchester but a “majority draw” was declared after six rounds.
“Last time I was scared to fight,” KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olayinka Williams JJ Olatunji, said after the match. “This time I just went in. I just kept going and going. He couldn’t deal with my jabs. I got him.”
KSI – who has more than 20 million YouTube subscribers – was earlier forced to clarify comments he made ahead of the highly anticipated match. In pre-fight banter at a press conference on Thursday, he said to his rival: “You’re going to fucking die.”
“I don’t intend to kill Logan physically tomorrow, I only intend to kill his YouTube career and spirit,” he tweeted. “After this fight, I still want Logan to be alive and well.”
Paul – who has 19.9 million YouTube subscribers – did not touch gloves with his rival at the end of the match.
Their bout at Manchester Arena last year sold out to 20,000 fans and drew an audience of 2.5 million live viewers and more than 19m subsequent views, making it the biggest internet event in history. It was also named the most popular white-collar boxing match of all time.
Saturday’s fight had been expected to attract 1 million viewers on the London-based pay-per-view service DAZN.