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.
Another big round as we close out the second. It looked like KSI established his jab well throughout, but has yet to land a single significant punch. Except for the one he landed after the bell, of course.
Another Logan Paul round - just. (AH)
The confidence of Logan, as the 'away' fighter, is quite astonishing. He has the swagger, he has the ability and he's showing it in abundance so far. (AH)
Massive KSI chants now - have they sensed the way the fight has turned? (CSW)
KSI lands the much heavier of the punches in the third but Logan, who hasn't kept his distance as well as in previous rounds, seems to be able to stand the big blows well. Certainly a KSI round.
Now 2-1 to Logan by my count. (AH)
Round 4 starts with big chants for KSI, which he responds to with some big shots. (CSW)
The consensus from the crowd that Logan is tired looks right, and that just shows how tiring the sport is. It is absolutely no joke. He looks out on his feet, while KSI seems to be coming on a bit stronger. (AH)
KSI certainly takes the fourth round. The energy showed, it wasn't all too convincing either way but it's around about 2-2 on my scorecard. (AH)
There's a steady thrum of excitement all around this arena. Last round: here we go! (CSW)
A fairly bizarre, tired and wild round. For at least five seconds it looked as though Logan was about to take KSI off his feet and be declared winner, but the Brit superstar managed to respond with his own flurry of punches. I have no idea how to score that round. I *think* Logan edged it. I don't know. Someone help me.
Let's go draw for that round. Onto the final one...
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