KSI vs Logan Paul: Battle of YouTube stars ends in draw – as it happened
We bring you every jab, hook and diss track, while attempting to put this new media monstrosity in context...
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In front of 18,000 fans at the Manchester Arena, YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul shared the spoils after six rounds of tense white-collar boxing.
While many may pour scorn on a matchup between two amateurs, more than 800,000 streamed the event, billed as the “biggest event in internet history”, at its peak.
At least a half a million more watched on illegal streams, despite the attempts of the organisers to quash them.
The match was the second bout for KSI, who defeated Joe Weller in front of a 7,000-strong sellout in London’s Copper Box Arena back in February.
Fans not able to make it to Manchester for the fight had to pay £7.50 ($10) for the privilege of watching a live stream of the action.
:: Chris Stokel-Walker (CSW) reporting live from the MEN Arena and Adam Hamdani (AH) following all the online reaction
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More than a quarter of a million pounds of bets on the outcome of the event had been taken by British bookmakers by Saturday afternoon, The Independent can exclusively reveal.
“We were blown away by the numbers we saw after KSI's last fight, but that pales in significance in truth, with interest from a betting perspective likely to hit £300,000 by close of play on Saturday night,” said Ladbrokes’ Alex Apati.
One thing you miss on the live stream is the conversations going on around Manchester Arena, and the sheer spongelike way that young children pick up all the personal relationships between YouTubers.
It's this that separates this brand of online celebrity from their traditional counterparts: they bare and share their lives, and those in attendance know so much about them. (CSW)
Next up is AnEsonGib vs Jay Swingler. AnEsonGib is a Saudi-born, UK-based YouTuber with 1.4 million subscribers. Like KSI originally was, AnEsonGib's best known as a FIFA YouTuber (yes, you can make money playing video games online).
AnEsonGib was actually responsible for one of the more entertaining fights at the last YouTube boxing event, in large part because he threw what seemed to be 1.4 million punches at his opponent, who he defeated handily.
Jay Swingler (or as The Sun wants to call him, "Jake") is best known for cementing his head into a microwave last year.
YouTube has some dark corners, ladies and gents.
A quick word on why this is all happening: according to the fight organisers, they're unlikely to make much money on pay per view revenue and much of the ticket sales income is cancelled out by the fight's setup costs, including hire of the Manchester Arena.
But you can bet your bottom dollar they're raking it in from the merchandise sales tonight.
At the last fight in February, a staff member working on one merchandise stand who wasn't authorised to speak to the press told me they had sold "a shitload" of branded t-shirts and clothing.
KSI was carrying much of the starpower that night, and his merch selling routine is underpowered in comparison to the Paul brothers, whose content often seems like nothing more than wrapping for endless plugs for their wares.
An analysis I did for New York magazine of 50 of Logan and Jake Paul's videos earlier this year showed that viewers are bombarded with messages to buy their merch every 142 seconds.
That hasn't changed. Anyone who's ever bought an item of Jake Paul's merch online has been sent a daily email hawking more merch since Tuesday, and has received seven so far this month.
No matter the outcome of the bout, there's one winner: the Paul's merch machine. (CSW)
Jay Swingler is the big fan favourite in the arena even though AnEsonGib's enthusiastic enough on his ring walk.
"He's sick," says one attendee.
This one's four rounds. (CSW)
Here we go. The big fight before the even bigger fight.
AnEsonGib looks focused. Will that translate into the fight? (AH)
AnEsonGib
AnEsonGib was absolutely relentless in that first round. Jay Swingler didn't have an answer throughout, a very, very convincing start. (AH)
Adam is 100% right. Swingler has survived entombing his own head in a microwave, however. (CSW)
Wow. Another dominant start to the second from Gib but Swingler somehow, someway found something inside him to start throwing back and he landed - both men swinging wildly and landing heavily.
Only someone at the arena could possibly describe the atmosphere during that second round, take it away Chris... (AH)
Two words for you Adam: primal scream.
We had people off their feet and shouting, the visceral reaction you get at proper boxing matches. And it goes on... (CSW)
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