A few weeks ago, there was a highly-anticipated boxing match between YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI. From what I saw, the fight itself seemed legit, punches were thrown and blocked, but looking at it as a whole, it was a scam. From my point of view, it was a publicity stunt, a way to earn more money and an effort to revive Logan's career.
Those who were also matched up to battle it out in the ring were Jake Paul vs. Deji (Logan and KSI's younger siblings, respectively), Call me Ham vs. Jrizzy Jeremy, Momo vs. RossiHD, JMX vs. Coach Richard, FaZe Sensei vs Overtflow, Rackaracka vs. Scarce and AnEsonGib vs. Jay Swingler. But, in this article, I'm going to focus on Logan and KSI.
Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of watching the entire fight because it was $10 to watch the live stream on YouTube and I wasn't invested in any of the boxers to pay that fee (college budget and all), which, compared to the Mayweather vs. McGregor fight last August, wasn't much to ask for (Mayweather vs. McGregor cost around $100 for high-definition). Of course, there were other means of watching. Some fans viewed the match on free live streaming apps such as Periscope and Twitch. The parts of the fight that I was able to watch, were snippets from the Snapchat story about the fight.
Before the fight, the Youtubers were busy getting their subscribers hyped up and motivated to watch. They posted click-bait videos on their channels (all of which have over 9 million subscribers) in relation to their opponent and recorded diss tracks. 5 months before the match, Logan posted a video called "Confronting KSI in Person" that has 10 million views and a week before the match, KSI posted a new Logan Paul diss track called "On Point" which was viewed over 19 million times. There's no telling how many subscribers each star has earned since the rivalry began or how many more views they have on their videos, both of which translate into more money for all of them and more publicity for their channels.
Jake was victorious in his match, but, lucky for them, Logan vs. KSI resulted in a draw. The two immediately agreed to a rematch after the tie was called and it's suggested that it will be held sometime in February on US soil, Logan's territory, as opposed to in the UK (where this fight was held), KSI's home turf. To many, including me, the draw seemed fake. The entire event gave the impression of being an opportunity for the YouTubers to earn even more money on top of their over-a-million-dollars a month salary. I can't even begin to imagine how much money they made off of ticket sales, sponsorship, merchandise sales leading up to the fight and at the sale booths in the arena. And now that they're planning on having another fight, they have the potential to double or triple their revenue and become even richer.
All of this conveniently came to be a few months after Logan nearly destroyed his career. Earlier in the year, Logan posted an extremely controversial video filmed in the Aokigahara forest, in Japan. The forest is widely known as a place where people sadly take their lives. In the video that he ultimately took down after getting well-deserved backlash, he filmed the body of a man who, he believed, recently took his life. He told the viewers that suicide and mental health aren't jokes but joked with his friends about the situation as a way to relieve the tension and cope with what he had just seen.
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Fans were outraged that he actually filmed what they had seen and it cost Logan subscribers and different projects that he was working on for YouTube. Ever since this happened, it was all that people could really think about when they heard the name "Logan Paul," that was until his fight with KSI. This fight took the spotlight away from his mistake and put in on something that he wouldn't lose subscribers and sponsorships over and gained him more positive publicity.
To those who stan Logan, Jake, KSI, Deji or any of the other YouTubers, this fight was a big deal and allowed them to show support for someone that they love, but for me, the motivation behind this boxing match was a little bit more devious than just protecting one's YouTube honor.
