YouTubers boxing in the pros for 2nd time

Jan 30, 2020 | Sports

The official poster of the Jake Paul vs Gib fight. Via DAZN
Pirasanth Gunasekaram

YouTubers’ involvement in the sport of boxing is on the rise and anticipation is high for tonight’s fight between Jake Paul, a controversial vlogger, and AnEsonGib, who rose to fame as a FIFA video game player.

DAZN, a paid streaming service, is airing the fight live at 9 pm on Thursday, Jan. 30.

This isn’t the first time that DAZN streamed a fight involving two big YouTubers as the main event. Jake’s brother, Logan Paul, fought and lost to KSI, who is also famous on the social media platform, on Nov. 12, 2019.

The upcoming event includes a number of preliminary fights including: Demetrius Andrade vs Luke Keeler for the WBO middleweight title, Tevin Farmer vs Joseph Diaz for IBF super-featherweight title, Daniel Roman vs Murodjon Akhmadaliev for the WBA and IBF super-bantamweight titles.

Matchroom boxing promoter Eddie Hern, who is running the fight, told Paul during a news conference on Jan. 28 that all of the pressure is on him.

“Pressure creates diamonds,” Paul said.

His trainer, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, who is also a former professional boxer, said Paul is taking the fight seriously.

“He showed me that he can put in the work and he showed me that he really loves the sport of boxing,” Mosley said.

Gib said during the conference that his opponent is in a dangerous place.

“The risk for him is incredibly high for this fight,” he said. “For me, I got nothing to lose.”

The fight was a result of months of drama between the two YouTubers.

In a Dec, 2019 episode of the Impaulsive podcast, a show run by Logan Paul, KSI told Jake Paul that he’ll fight him but he has to beat Gib first.

Paul didn’t want to fight Gib at first. He wanted to fight YouTuber FouseyTube or Soulja Boy, but the talks of those fights didn’t go progress.

This is their first fight as professional boxers. Their last fight was an amateur fight that was streamed during the Logan Paul vs KSI fight on Aug 25, 2018, on YouTube.

Paul’s last fight was against KSI’s brother, Deji, while Gib’s last fight was against YouTuber, Jay Swingler.

If Paul wins then he faces KSI, but if Gib wins then the chances of another YouTube boxing fight are slim to none.

Below is an infographic of the fight showcasing statistics and the odds.

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