Why you can argue that the “popularity” of this fight in Manchester England comes from a “borrowed ladder” stemming from both Olajide William Olatunji (KSI) & Logan Paul’s work to progress themselves as a youtube celebrities with 6.6 million subscribers and 18.8 million subscribers respectively – let’s look at this from a raw boxing perspective.
Both opponents are relatively matched from a height, weight and experience perspective, with KSI 1-0 (1 KO against another Youtuber Joe Weller), and Logan with a slight height and minor weight advantage. While the boxing technique could be considered entry-level, both fighters put in effort each round leading to a majority draw with judges scoring 57-57 and 58-57 in favor of KSI.
In terms of general boxing technique, it’s a bit more of a brawl similar to the increasingly popular RnR (Rough and Rowdy) Fights; however there are six 3 minute rounds, and there are some reasonable basic techniques worth noting (excluding the dirty boxing, clinching, pushing, wrestling and general falling over.) such as philly shell defense, stiff jabs, hooks, etc.; moreover I have to give it to these two “public figures” stepping into the ring for such a public event, with such limited boxing experience, as a fighters character is exposed for all to see.
While this fight may be result of the new era of online personalities, brand promos and advertising revenue coming together to give audiences something new (as even seen in the Mayweather vs. Tenshin or McGregor crossover fights) – perhaps boxing at its highest levels can be argued has always been the same way, however the path to driving such an audience is different, for example the Marvelous Marvin Hagler fought from the streets of Newark NJ to claim his titles and financial rewards – whereas KSI and Logan arrived via a different path.
My hope is, regardless, that audiences don’t lose their ability to recognize the highest forms of boxing skills seen in GGG and new talent such as Ryan Garcia. Yet, perhaps however, we may be able to watch the journey of youtube celebrities from 0-0 to higher levels of skills, perhaps to the point where they can cross over into main-stream amature and professional territory. Wouldn’t that be something?
A 30+ year practitioner of various martial arts including primarily including Tang Soo Do, Kyokushin, Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai and Western Boxing. During the day he is the CEO of an award-winning software company www.trueinteraction.com which helps businesses of various sizes improve their business outcomes using technology and resource optimization.
