Are YouTubers and Influencers Bad For Boxing?
My initial idea was to do an article about “Why YouTubers are bad for boxing?” While thinking about it and how to write it, I realized I’m making a mistake. Yes, I’m going to say it: celebrities fighting in a boxing match might end up as a good thing for the sport of boxing. And may God help me with this one.
In recent years, we can see a rapid rise of super fights between celebrities who are not even into boxing at all. Of course, we are speaking about famous YouTubers like the Paul brothers who are taking the boxing world by storm.
Admit it or not, these two guys are creating a lot of attention and, of course, money. That’s why we can see celebrities calling each other out for a boxing match just about every month.
But with these types of freak shows on the rise, what real fight fans have to say about it? Of course, most of us are mad and against it, but it’s obvious we can’t do anything to stop it. What we can do is to accept the fact this is a part of modern boxing, and that it’s maybe good for our sport?
If you are ready to open your mind and embrace some true facts, you might change the way you look at this rising trend. The first thing you must do is to:
Distinguish reality show from actual boxing art
Before you start raging about some YouTuber fighting in a boxing match, you should split up the reality show from real boxing in your mind. You see, boxing is both, one of the oldest martial arts, and very profitable entertainment business.
Paul brothers, KSI, and others are creating a reality show that has nothing to do with boxing as a martial art. In some way, you can look at it as WWE wrestling and real wrestling. These are two separate shows that, apart from the word wrestling, do not have much else in common.
Paul or KSI are not fighting to win titles, build a legacy or go down in history as great boxers. No, they are in to use boxing as a platform to become more famous and earn more money, and that’s it.
People who are buying their story are in for a drama show, created by both parties, media companies, and promoters. Fake animosity, fake trash talk, staged and fake conferences, and fake boxing skills. That’s what they are in for with the sport of boxing being in the fifth place in their minds. They just want to see the leader of their tribe win, and that’s it.
The sport of boxing is way above that drama show and real boxing fans know that. That’s why we shouldn’t be too frustrated about two YouTubers fighting in a “boxing” match. I’m going to watch it, and you should too if you want, there is nothing wrong with that. But you shouldn’t be too stressed about it.
They bring a new audience boxing desperately needs
Ok, they might not be a great introduction to the world of boxing, I agree with that. But whether you want to admit it or not, the sport of boxing is on the decline over the last two decades. This is mainly due to the mix of internal issues within the structure of the sport and the rapid rise of modern MMA. We have the entire new generation of fight fans going into MMA instead of boxing.
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We can see the sport showing some signs of life every now and then, but modern boxing has changed a lot. This is where the Logan brothers and YouTubers might play a key role in getting boxing back on track. I know this sounds weird but stay with me on this one.
The fan base of the Logan brothers and most other YouTubers like KSI is very young. In fact, their fans are usually kids from 8 to 14 years old, and there is an “older” teenagers group that doesn’t go above 20 years old.
And all of a sudden, things do not look that bad, right? I mean, what some kids know about boxing? That’s the thing, they don’t know much about any type of fighting sports. And instead of going into MMA like most kids nowadays, these YouTubers might bring them into boxing.
Or in other words, they might spark an interest in them to continue watching the sport. Bear in mind that we are speaking about millions of young people. In the long run, these kids would become who we are today, huge fans OF THE SPORT.
The first time I showed an interest in boxing was in 1997 when Mike Tyson bite Holyfield’s ear. I mean, that was a freak show on its own.
Oh, but they earn more than average boxers!
So what? I’m not trying to defend YouTubers in this article, but bear in mind that they are coming from a different world. They are not boxers. These people are reality show stars that are using boxing as a platform to become more famous and earn more money. It’s up to us to see how the sport can benefit from this trend.
The two most famous YouTubers that have over 100+ million fans on social networks won’t fight for $100,000. If we match Dr. Dre and Jay Z in an MMA match, those two won’t step into that octagon without $50 million dollars on the contract. And guess what, they would likely break all the UFC’s PPV records simply because they are among the most famous people on the planet.
We must work out in our minds that this is not about the sport of boxing or MMA and how much fighters are earning. It is about a reality show between two celebrities who will use boxing as a platform to earn money from all sides. So, of course, they are going to earn much more money.
In the end, this might end up in pro boxers getting better contracts in the future as there will be more money circling through the sport. If a promotion is ready to give YouTubers these figures, then their fighters have the right to ask for more.
Are YouTubers diminishing boxing as a martial art?
This is a really hard question to answer because this is still a new thing. We are yet to see how it will impact boxing as a martial art. As fight fans, we know these YouTubers are not real boxers and they do not represent the sport of boxing inside that ring. They are promoting their own brand in order to earn money and that’s it.
Of course, there will always be a group of, mostly young people, who think they are legit boxers. Or even worse, that they can beat a pro boxer as well. But that’s the whole point of these shows, to make you believe these YouTubers are super talented. They possess that X factor very few people have which allows them to beat a pro boxer with few months of training.
Even though this is huge nonsense, there are people who are buying this story, and that’s fine. Is that diminishing boxing as a martial art? No, and there is a good reason why.
In the end, the whole YouTuber boxing story is built on fake drama, fake trash talk, and fake fighting skills. Every famous boxer, even the average ones, would play with these people like the lion plays with their food, and that’s a fact. Boxing would be fine as long as we don’t see Logan’s knocking out Mayweather or Alvarez.
Why so many die-hard boxing fans will watch YouTubers fight?
You can see a lot of people responding to the news with comments about how they won’t watch these fights. But when it’s all said and done, a lot of fans of boxing or MMA actually watch these fights. I’m not saying they are all buying pay-per-views, but they are watching the fight.
I mean, you shouldn’t feel bad about it or admitting that you watch these fights. In the end, this is all about entertainment. There is, and always will be something in seeing two people, without any fighting skills, blasting each other. And if they do that in front of the stacked arena and millions of watching around the world, then it becomes even more intriguing.
When you dig deep into it, most boxing and MMA fans actually have a strong empathy towards these YouTubers. Stop and think about it for a second. When it comes to fighting skills, they have similar skills and experience to most fight fans. But here they are, with two months of training, stepping into the full arena to fight in a real boxing match. Will they crumble under the pressure? Will they freeze once the fight starts?
My God, I’m starting to sound like a real fight promoter, am I?
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