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...
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load...
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.
JMX drops Coach Richard early in the second round, gets back up and tries to get his jab going but again the reach and size difference between the two men shows.
10-8 round to JMX. (AH)
Biggest reaction of the night as Coach Richard gets acquainted with the canvas after a heavy blow. (CSW)
JMX goes in for the kill in the third and gets a strong knockdown with a left hook, Coach Richard stumbles and survives the round. Another 10-8 round to JMX. (AH)
Coach Richard came out swinging in the fourth and final round but his onslaught took a lot out of him, with JMX applying body shots to put even more pressure on him. A 10-9 final round to the man who will take the bout with comfort. (AH)
As expected, JMX wins comfortably 40-35.
He celebrates big time with his team and it's deserved - he trained hard and showed actual bits of skill, a good solid performance. (AH)
People really love JMX in the arena, even if he is a bit sweary for the younger members of the audience. (CSW)
Yep. You read that right. Over 500,000 live viewers for a pay-per-view amateur boxing event. Astounding. (AH)
500,000+ viewers
The curse of the impenetrable usernames strikes again: the next match sees FaZe Sensei (who’s previously trained in kickboxing) take on overtflow (a jiu-jitsu fighter).
FaZe – real name Isiah Ocasio-Pantoja – has actually sparred with KSI in the run-up to this fight, though we’ll have to see whether he’ll be limited by not being able to do the whole kicking thing in this fight.
A quick reminder of the context for this whole night: it’s the second white collar boxing match between online video stars.
It pits Logan Paul, who started the year mired in controversy for sharing with his 18 million subscribers footage of a dead body hanging in a Japanese forest, against Olajide “KSI” Olatunji, who bested his challenger, Joe Weller, in the previous YouTube boxing match, held in front of 7,000 at London’s Copper Box Arena in February.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments