The second white-collar YouTube boxing match was unquestionably Logan Paul’s night. Despite the fight itself ending in a draw. It capped a tumultuous year that has seen him plumb the lowest depths at the precise moment that YouTube reaches its most momentous highs in the eyes of the public. And we’re not even all the way through August.
The Logan Paul versus KSI fight, seen by nearly 20,000 people in person at Manchester Arena and more than 830,000 who paid £7.50 ($10) to watch a live stream on YouTube and uCast, a competing streaming network, was a significant step change from the February fight which saw KSI easily beat fellow British YouTuber Joe Weller. It marked a major moment for YouTube, and for Logan Paul, granting both mainstream acceptability – even though the former has spent the last eight months doing everything it can to disown the latter.
“Everything is bigger this time round,” says KSI. “The press, the building – everything has contributed towards it.” But perhaps the biggest component in the step up in scale was the man KSI stood across from within the boxing ring last night. “Because Logan is such a huge entertainer – as well as I am – it’s always going to be a big fight,” KSI explained before the bout.
The crowd of teenagers, children and young couples who had gathered from across the globe – the kind of audience that most traditional media outlets beg for – lapped up each body blow and headshot, gasping and oohing along as if it was a real boxing event. In honesty, it wasn’t: the technical skill was poor, but the heart, and the audience’s reaction as they were whipped up into a frenzy, showed why YouTube is such a prestigious brand at the minute.
The bout lasted the distance, and in the end the judges couldn’t decide on a winner. That’s a convenient outcome, and sets up nicely a return match, likely in New York next year. But it was the personal connection and the private drama played out in public that really made this a momentous event: it was a family feud fought out in front of thousands, every argument pored over by fans before the night and every blow cheered on during the event. KSI was tenacious, plugging away at Paul while staying out the rangy reach of his left jab, the audience erupting every time one landed a punch on the other and sent the sweat flying. Both men left it all in the ring. But, exhausted from the fourth round, they couldn’t land the killer blow.
It wasn’t just in the arena that the fans were rapt: they queued at merchandise stalls to snap up t-shirts and hoodies, posters and bandanas – all money in the coffers of the rich new media stars.
The live event wasn’t just a moment for YouTube to assert its dominance and demonstrate its stranglehold on its supporters offline as well as online. YouTubers and their fans have an innate, personal connection, fostered through the medium itself: up close and only filtered through a lens. But ultimately, that connection is online most of the time. By bringing such a large number of fans to a physical space for a non-industry event like the many YouTube conferences that take place every year, those involved have demonstrated they’re bankable mainstream icons who can command their audience. Mainstream media, beware.
YouTube’s role in the event was minimal, beyond providing a platform to host the live stream to 45 countries across the globe. But though it was hands-off, the offline success of online celebrities is a filip for the site as it aims to prove its mettle against Netflix and Hollywood. It was also a handy set piece scene for the hackneyed story of rehabilitation Logan Paul and his team are trying to weave after he uploaded a video of a hanging body in a Japanese forest back in January.
In the run up to the fight he subjected himself to a warts-and-all interview with one the biggest swayers of opinion within the YouTube community, Casey Neistat. That a precondition of the interview was that Neistat would have to allow the footage to be used in a documentary Paul is making about his return from the hinterland is convenient, not to say lucrative. “He’s looking to redeem himself in some way,” says Liam Chivers, KSI’s manager and the individual who successfully brought together the parties through difficult, protracted and spiky negotiations.
Paul is aware that his misstep cost him significantly – especially amongst his fans. Naomi Ní Aodha, 19, and her 12-year-old brother spent more than £200 travelling over from Ireland to Manchester to watch the fight for the younger sibling’s birthday.
Ní Aodha and her brother were once Logan Paul fans, but in Manchester only the elder sister was rooting for the American. Her younger brother “loved Logan Paul up until the suicide forest video,” she explains. “Being so young and witnessing something like that was just a bit of a downer for him.”
Every fan lost from that contentious video back in January means a loss of income and a weakening of support – in theory.
Though Paul has presented himself as the victim who was ostracised from the creator community on YouTube, the truth is he never really went away. Barring a brief period where the scale of the public backlash to his suicide forest video caused his videos to be demonetised, his channel has continued to grow and earn him money. He’s gained three million new subscribers this year alone, and averages between two and four million views a day on YouTube even with an irregular upload schedule. (All four headline combatants at yesterday’s event have throttled back their video uploads to concentrate on training for the fights.)
Certainly Paul’s earning potential with brands outside YouTube has been hit. “He’s fairly toxic to brands,” admits Chivers, who has spent the last six months trying to land sponsorship deals for the event – in the end five firms signed on to back the bouts.
But for all his controversies, Paul is still a box office name that helped bring 20,000 people to Manchester Arena to see two non-professional boxers fight. KSI may be the bigger name on YouTube, but Logan Paul trips off the tongue of anyone who’s read the mainstream press coverage of his exploits.
“In terms of the scale and interest in it, it’s way bigger with Logan Paul than Adam Salah,” says Chivers, referring to a YouTuber who had been mooted as KSI’s opponent had the deal with the American not been struck. “This is now a global event.” And it’s likely it won’t be the last.
But quite what that event actually is is another question entirely. “It’s a show,” explains Deji Olatunji, KSI’s younger brother, who took on Jake Paul in the other headline attraction of the evening. “We can’t forget that. But we’ve turned it more into a pride thing.” Boxing purists argued that amateurs exchanging blows wasn’t real sport; the presence of famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer welcoming combatants down to the ring and former champions in each corner punctured that belief.
So too did the fact that the bout attracted 14 times more bets than a world title bout featuring Olympic boxer Paddy Barnes and Cristofer Rosales the week before. Boxing may want to cover its eyes and ears and treat YouTubers with kid gloves, but it shouldn’t.
Beyond the internal gossip and the attempted rehabilitation of one of YouTube’s most damaged brands, the big question the general public have is a simple one: why should they care?
YouTube is a vast, dominant media platform that is catching up to – and for the younger generations – overtaking TV. That more than £250,000 of bets were taken on the fight should also be a red flag that for a large chunk of the population, YouTube is no longer just a silly pastime playing with cameras.
While the people involved in this one-off event don’t represent the entire spectrum of creators on YouTube, they are among the site’s biggest, most subscribed names. In a short space of time they have wrestled control of the site, dominating headlines and YouTube itself right at the moment it launches headlong into the mainstream. They’ve also made a lot of money. 2018 has been a liminal year for YouTube – the moment when the rest of the world started noticing the giant coming over the brow of the hill.
Whether individuals like Logan Paul are the best people to front YouTube at its moment of most intense scrutiny is hotly debated. He’s still a pariah to many; the unacceptable face of YouTube. That he’s been instrumental in such a successful event that lifts the standing of the platform and all its creators in the eyes of the public is likely to engender a debate about what YouTube is in 2018, and who it represents.
Disaster movie, riding off into the sunset or setting up a sequel? The future of YouTube – and Logan Paul’s part in it – is still being decided.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
