Saturday’s boxing match between YouTube megastars is a farce on its face, but Eddie Hearn is getting boxing in front of eyeballs that every other sport is falling over themselves to court
The latest confirmation that we’re living in the dumbest timeline is scheduled for Saturday night, when a pair of YouTube celebrities with more than 40 million subscribers between them will trade blows before an expected sellout crowd at a basketball arena in downtown Los Angeles and a worldwide audience of millions.
If you’re over the age of 30, there’s a chance you’ve never heard of sentient memes Logan Paul and Olajide “KSI” Olatunji, whose social media antics have made them Gen Z megastars. Last year they attracted a sold-out crowd of 21,000 paying ticket-holders to the Manchester Arena for a six-round amateur boxing match, ginned up by months of cross-platform feuding, that generated an estimated live gate of £2.7m (US$3.5m) and more than 800,000 pay-per-view buys at £7.50 ($10) a pop – not including countless more watching on pirated Twitch and Periscope streams. The outcome was (shocker) a draw, setting the stage for a money-spinning sequel.
Written by Bryan Armen Graham
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/nov/08/ksi-v-logan-paul-youtube-eddie-hearn-boxing under the title “KSI v Logan Paul may be proof we’re in the dumbest timeline, but it’s good business | Bryan Armen Graham”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
