Editor’s note: This article was originally published on USAToday.com.
***
Bob Arum, the Hall of Fame boxing promoter, said he’s been getting phone calls from angry people.
Angry that Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. are generating massive pay-per-view revenue despite fighting in their 50s.
Angry that a YouTube celebrity, Jake Paul, was featured on the co-main event against a former NBA player, Nate Robinson.
And no less angry that Floyd Mayweather has agreed to fight yet another YouTube celebrity, Logan Paul, in an exhibition set for Feb. 20.
The Paul brothers and five other YouTube celebrities have taken their beefs into the boxing ring, captivating their YouTube subscribers who might ordinarily be, well, watching videos on YouTube.
“People calling me, ‘Isn’t that terrible?'” Arum told USA TODAY Sports. “No, it’s not terrible.”
It is a phenomenon gaining momentum, sideshows outdrawing real boxing matches coinciding with the rise of controversial YouTube boxers.
Arum offered them his blessing: “If there’s a market for it, they should do it,’’ he said.
Tyson lauded them, crediting YouTubers with bringing boxing “alive.”
And Mayweather further legitimized them by agreeing to fight Logan Paul, who as a professional fighter is 0-1. Mayweather is 50-0.
Out of the ring, Logan Paul is known for showing on his YouTube channel the corpse of an apparent suicide victim and for accusing a rival of having had five abortions.
Solomon Engel, the first-time promoter who is putting together the fight between Mayweather Jr. and Paul, expects criticism for what appears to be a very lopsided matchup. But on Monday, he noted early returns from the pay-per-view sales that began when the fight was announced 24 hours earlier.
“The numbers are ridiculous,’’ he said cheerfully. “We’ve already sold a great deal of pay-per-view.’’
Though he declined to disclose specifics, he said he thinks the final tally could be “historical,’’ with the first 1 million purchases to cost $24.99 apiece and the price steadily rising until it reaches $69.99.
Engel also is betting the fight will boost the number of subscribers at Fanmio, the social media platform he started in 2019 that connects users with celebrities such as Mayweather and Paul. The two have been paired largely because of a modified tale of the tape.
[lawrence-related id=16175,16171,16066,15857]
It’s worth noting the traditional categories such as age (Mayweather is 43 and Paul is 25), height (Mayweather is 5-8 and Paul is 6-2), weight (Mayweather is 150 and Paul is 200). But more important is social media reach.
Mayweather and Logan have a combined 87 million followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and Logan has another 22.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
“I thought it was a good business opportunity,’’ Engel said, declining to disclose how much he guaranteed the two fighters other than to say, “It wasn’t a cheap engagement.’’
Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Association, might as well have been speaking for boxing purists when asked about the YouTube boxing sensation.
“To me, I would go on YouTube to watch videos on how to help install my stove or something,’’ he said. “But there’s a whole media world in the YouTube.’’
For example, Tyson said he had never heard of Jake Paul before they added him to his Nov. 28 fight card, with Paul knocking out Robinson in spectacular fashion. But Tyson said his 9-year-old son, Morocco, not only knew of Jake Paul but wanted to fight him. (That match likely will have to wait a few years.)
In February 2018, the YouTube boxing movement officially started when Olajide Olayinka Williams (also known as KSI) and Joe Weller decided to take their bad blood into the ring.
The fight was held in London at Copper Box Arena, a 7,500-seat facility, and tickets were priced at almost $90 apiece. It was a sellout.
KSI defeated Weller by TKO, and the fight drew 1.6 million concurrent viewers, and a video of the fight on YouTube has been viewed more than 20 million times.
Eddie Hearn, a prominent boxing promoter, bashed the YouTubers when KSI and Logan Paul agreed to fight in 21,000-seat AO Arena in Manchester, England, with their brothers, Jake Paul and Desi, matched up on the undercard. The fight sold out.
With KSI winning by majority draw and Jake Paul winning by TKO, the event generated more 1 million pay-per-views at $15 apiece and more than 100 million views of the fight and related content.
“At first there was huge doubts in what we were doing,’’ said Stuart Jones, who promoted the first two fights.
And Hearn, who blasted the YouTubers before the second event? Well, he promoted the third event.
Logan Paul fought KSI in a rematch at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Jake Paul fought in Miami the week of the Super Bowl in 2019, and the YouTuber pay-per-view numbers and YouTube views have continued to soar.
DAZN, the sports streaming service, exclusively aired the rematch between KSI and Paul and said it ranked among its top five events of the year based on generating new subscriptions.
FITE TV aired the Tyson-Jones fight, and FITE CEO Michael Weber said he thinks Jake Paul might have brought in 40% of the audience. The fight sold more than 1.6 million pay-per-views at $49.99 apiece, according to Tyson’s Legends Only League.
“He’s built up a strong, dedicated fan base from his YouTube page and drove a lot of new viewers to the fight that may not have been as familiar with the boxing industry or used our platform before,’’ Weber said via email.
Over the past two years, boxing has become more a hobby for the Paul brothers. Both have boxing rings in their Southern California homes. Logan Paul has trained with Shannon Briggs, the former heavyweight titleholder, and Jake Paul has trained with Shane Moseley, who won world titles in three weight classes.
But Abel Sanchez, who has trained champion boxers such as Gennadiy Golovkin and Terry Norris, said the YouTubers are not ready for the big time.
“If they step up into the reality of boxing, then what happened to Nate Robinson will happen to them,’’ he said. “If they can stay in their lane, that’s OK.’’
That sounds likely, according to Joseph Markowski, head of of the global platform for DAZN, which aired the KSI-Logan rematch.
“I was at dinner with Logan Paul in L.A. a few days ago, and he’s convinced if he lands on Floyd Mayweather, he’s going to knock him out,’’ he said.
That might strike most boxing fans as ridiculous as, well, the rise of YouTube boxers. And, for the record, Engel said he’s identified a few more YouTube celebrities who might be good enough athletes to get into the boxing ring.
“Absolutely,’’ he said. “I think there are some other opportunities out there that could be capitalized on.’’