On February 3rd at The Copper Box Arena, YouTube stars KSI (18,000,000 subscribers) and Joe Weller (4,800,00 subscribers) went head to head in a white-collar boxing match, with KSI coming out victorious by way of T.K.O in the third round.
The event smashed records, with 8,000 live in attendance at The Copper Box, as well as over 23,000,000 views on across their respective YouTube channels. The reasoning behind the match stems from KSI requesting to fight the winner of a friendly boxing match between close friends Joe Weller and Theo Baker. After a press conference took place in September 2017 at YouTube event ‘Upload’, heated words were exchanged, with KSI ‘mocking’ mental health and anti-depressants – he has since apologised, claiming he “only wished to offend Joe personally” (who suffers from depression) and meant no ill toward mental illness.
Both influencers came from no prior boxing background, and trained intensely and commendably for 5 months in order to put on a wonderful show for those in attendance and around the world watching from home.
Mainstream news had much to say about the event, criticising Joe and KSI for being ‘immature’, and saying that it is laughable that they should take part in such a match as they are unexperienced. YouTuber TheTrueGeordie went on to express his disagreement with this criticism, arguing that mainstream media views the YouTube community as a joke, and that it should be taken far more seriously and appreciated for the vast influence it has in popular-culture today.
Other criticisms have been fired at the influencers and the event stating that it is “irresponsible”, and teaches the predominantly young fan base Joe and KSI possess, as it promotes conflict resolution via violence rather than more peaceful methods - however this has been opposed by many stating that boxing is a sport, and should be treated in the same way that any other sport (such as football) would be.
Regardless, the two men trained incredibly hard for this event and put on a fantastic record-breaking show and should be congratulated for their efforts.
By Kai Melhuish.
