October 3, 2023
KSI vs. Tommy Fury Preview: “This is easy money.”
KSI, the man who set the ball rolling on the recent surge in influencer boxing, is back in action in what he has described as the “toughest fight in the influencer boxing scene” against Tommy Fury.
Back in 2018, KSI took on fellow YouTube star Joe Weller in what is widely considered to be the genesis of the rise of influencer boxing. KSI won the fight by third-round knockout, and the buzz surrounding that event rapidly grew momentum and his follow-up fight against Logan Paul in Manchester clocked up an astonishing 1.3m PPV buys. The fight resulted in a controversial draw.
The opportunity around the subsequent rematch caught the eye of boxing giants Matchroom and became the third most streamed fight on DAZN in 2019, illustrating the huge appeal and new markets becoming interested in combat sports through influencer boxing.
The next level
Alongside the exploits of Jake Paul, KSI’s early fight career has seen him take on other YouTubers and personalities and will be on a quest to take his boxing career to the next level by facing his first professional boxer in Fury (9-0, 4 KOs).
While still in the early stages of his boxing career and an influencer in his own right, Fury is a legitimate professional from a boxing family who has created a role for himself as a gateway for the most ambitious influencer boxers to see how they could fare in the pro ranks.
Fury offered Jake Paul a reality check in February 2023, winning a comfortable split decision victory despite a late knockdown. Jake had more experience than KSI, building his boxing reputation with victories over ageing MMA fighters and crafted a lane for himself at the top of the pile of the crossover boxing scene.
There is certainly no love lost between KSI and Jake Paul, so KSI is clearly relishing the opportunity to get one over on his fierce rival; so much so it was the first thing he mentioned when the fight was announced.
On his X, KSI wrote “OCTOBER 14TH, I’m doing what Jake Paul couldn’t and beating Tommy Fury on the biggest night in crossover boxing history, at Manchester’s AO Arena, live on DAZN PPV on the PRIME CARD!’
Speaking to the Misfits boxing channel, KSI revealed he has been studying Fury’s fight against Paul and is confident he can put on a better display than Jake and is expecting a finish “I’ve watched the fight many times, every angle on slo-mo, every stance, every little bit of detail that I need to know in order to beat Tommy Fury. Tommy has got some certain combinations that he likes doing that he’s pretty good at and we’re looking out for that.”
“Obviously he’s a big guy that likes to clinch so we’re going to be watching that and we’re going to fight him. Just go in there and fight, go crazy, it’s simple. I’m going to test that chin and I’m going to show him that my power is different to Jake Paul.”
It’s fair to say Fury is in a confident mood ahead of the fight, dismissing any chance of a threat posed by KSI and has predicted an early finish. “I’ve already beaten Jake Paul and so all that is left for me to do is send this man to sleep. I’ll do that inside four rounds. This is easy money.”
What’s at stake?
It’s relatively unquestionable that if KSI wins he would be immediately angling for the showdown with Jake Paul, and that would be the fight to make.
For Fury, it’s not as clear. He has discussed a rematch with Jake Paul, but there has been talk around another potential challenger who also has one foot in the influencer world. Viddal Riley (9-0, 6 KOs) is a professional boxer with a near identical record who has one eye on Fury’s new #38 WBC cruiserweight ranking; awarded for his victory over Jake Paul.
Riley also has a profile outside of boxing, he has a successful YouTube channel, and gained notoriety for training KSI in the early stages of his boxing journey for his fights against Logan Paul. He is also the current English Cruiserweight champion after defeating Nathan Quarless on Saturday.
Nevertheless, Fury doesn’t believe Riley should be in the conversation to fight him, “All due respect to him but he’s not a big enough draw. At the end of the day who is he outside of boxing? He’s not really anybody. He’s got no global pulling power. He can’t do any pay-per-views,”
“Viddal is fighting a lot lower than me. Say what you want about opposition but I’m fighting at a world championship level, I’m doing millions of pay-per-view buys with all these big names. I’m not going to be foolish and drop down and fight Viddal Riley.”
KSI VS. Tommy Fury Fight Details
MF X Series 10
14th October
AO Arena, Manchester
- KSI vs. Tommy Fury
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- Bustamante vs. Sulieman Albaher
- Chase DeMoor vs. Frankie Love
- Sam Gumbley vs. Deji Araoye
- Astrid Wett vs. Alexia Grace
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