The video streaming giant YouTube, owned by Google, has had a huge influence on our society as a whole and many different companies, industries, and sports. However, in recent years, it’s started to develop a growing affinity for the sport of boxing. There have been critics and appraisers of this growing relationship.
Some are saying that some of the Youtube and social media personalities who are boxing are not representing the sport correctly. Whereas others are saying that they are in fact bringing much-needed attention and profile to the sport, which is not only generating revenue but is also inspiring a lot of youngsters and the next generation to take up the sport. And so, overall, is it beneficial? Is it a positive impact that it has had on the sport? Or instead, is it just these social media stars lining their pockets from streaming revenue?
What influence has it had?
Today, under the spotlight, we are going to take a look at just how big of an influence both the internet culture and Youtube have had on the sport of boxing. Some of the biggest names on YouTube and across other social media channels, with tens of millions of fans between them, have starred on our screens in recent years. These include the likes of brothers Jake and Logan Paul.
As well as British internet personality KSI and even TikTok stars such as Salt Papi. At first, this movement started off with YouTube stars pitting themselves against one another. There are also plenty of places online if you want to bet on these boxing matches. It is perfectly legal to do so if online gambling is permitted in your country. There are also plenty of online casinos for Irish players to take advantage of.
Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson
However, this has slowly moved into the arena of these social media stars and internet personalities fighting either retired MMA stars or even retired boxers. One that has been around for a few weeks and is currently attracting headlines and allegations of it just being a bout purely for money and profit and even allegations of rigging, is Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson.
A Youtuber who has now turned professional but has already lost to Tommy Fury, the former undisputed heavyweight of the world. Not to mention there is over a 30-year difference between the two, with Jake Paul being 27 and Mike Tyson nearly 60. This has also raised some concerns as to the welfare of Mike Tyson because of the age difference; however, this will remain to be seen in a couple of weeks.
Big money makers
Of course, the owners of venues that are hosting these events are more than happy with this trend. And a lot of the online broadcasters. Due to the nature of their followers primarily following them online, it’s not surprising that a lot of the revenue that the fighters earn in these internet personality bouts comes from pay-per-view revenue from watching the fight online. Of course, there have been public figures in the boxing domain for years; however, there has been a lot more criticism when it comes to social media stars taking up a sport that is essentially strictly for professionals and very dangerous.
Bringing the sport into disrepute
A lot of people are starting to believe, possibly with the exception of Jake Paul, who is in fact professional, that they are undermining what it takes to become a boxer and to earn sold-out crowds and millions in streaming revenue. Whereas historically, even professional boxers would have to earn this right by rising their way up the ranks over years, with some losses and hard fights in the process, to earn the revenue that even some of the lesser-known internet personalities have been earning for their bouts in recent years.
This recent trend of social media stars taking to the ring against each other started just 6 years ago, back in 2018, and this was between KSI and fellow Brit Joe Weller. Both had previous arguments on social media and decided to settle their differences in a boxing fight, which millions tuned in to watch. And it was following KSI’s victory that he went to call out rival Logan Paul and, later, his brother, who is now a professional boxer.
In Summary
To wrap everything up, the influence that this wave of social media stars and internet personalities has is both measurable and visible. It has brought a lot of money into the sport and into the pockets of the fighters. However, critics would also state and agree that on that team, the standard of boxing being delivered to these fighters by these influencers is still of a very low standard and hasn’t improved over the years. Therefore, they are not delivering the value for money that fans should be expecting from a professional fight.
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