YouTube celebrity KSI is looking to “finish off” the YouTube boxing scene, it sounds like, as he’s hoping to fight Jake Paul, the brother of KSI’s rival Logan Paul.
With plenty of controversy and naysayers, KSI and Logan Paul headlined the Staples Center last November, with KSI winning a decision. Jake Paul made his boxing debut in Miami two months later, easily handling some dude whose name I forgot and wouldn’t have looked up if not for needing to link to the recap of that fight (it’s AnEsonGib).
KSI and Jake Paul shared the ring a bit in Miami, doing a nicely rehearsed bit of theatrics.
“I’m aiming for Jake. I need to finish this whole YouTube boxing thing off, and he’s the guy,” KSI said. “It’s gonna happen. I don’t know when, but it has to happen. Then that’s it. That is, like, the ultimate.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn tried to bring some boxing-style drama into this, saying KSI doesn’t really need to fight Jake Paul, setting up a grand statement where Tony Bellew’s eyes wandered a bit.
“Everyone’s like, ‘You don’t need to, you don’t need to,’ but all my life, I’ve taken risks,” KSI declared. “I took a risk when I fought Logan, the first time and the second time. My whole legacy was on the line! Imagine if I lost to Logan, I can’t make the music I’m making, I can’t make a song called ‘Undefeated.’ My whole YouTube channel would be different. I can’t be as egotistical and I guess cocky as I am on my channel. Everything would have changed.
“Throughout my life, I’ve always taken risks. And I’ve always succeeded because of that.”
Probably the best thing about the video is watching Hearn play along and try to explain “memes” and whatnot, while Bellew tries, but there are moments where he seems like he has more to say than he’s going to say, and he clearly doesn’t know which Paul is Logan and which is Jake, and I don’t think he ever watched any of these fights. Quiet comedy.
Later in the video, when it was just Hearn and Bellew — for the record, and to not misrepresent Bellew here — Tony did have further thoughts on KSI.
“I don’t look at him as a rapper nor as a boxer, what I now look at him as is someone who works very fuckin’ hard,” Bellew said of KSI. “He may very work hard at what he calls his rapping, he may work very hard doing what he thinks is boxing — it doesn’t matter. He works hard, that’s the top and bottom of it. He obviously deserves everything he’s got. Nobody gives you nothing in this world for nothing.”
Hearn then joked that it was good to hear that from Bellew, as he’d like to put him on commentary for KSI’s next fight, and in his next music video.