My first Publication Overtime November 2019 Merged PDF | Page 13

IS THE MASS COVERAGE OF
TWO BOXING NOVICES FAIR?
KSI and Logan Paul can rake in record viewers, so what does this mean for professional boxers?
Words Brandon Spalding
W
ith a pair of YouTubers whose combined connection with them. If people have a connection
subscriber count is higher than the with two total novices from YouTube, then so be it.
population of several countries, the fight You know that’s what they’re going to want to watch.
between online personalities KSI and Logan Paul was
“If they’ve got no connection with them, just as an
no small occasion.
example, Billy-Joe Saunders, who’s an Olympian,
However, it is debatable whether its coverage was, two-weight world champion, accomplished, amazing,
and continues to be, for the right reasons.
gifted boxer, but a lot of people don’t connect with
Overtime sought the opinion of boxing journalist him, so they don’t want to watch him.
Declan Taylor, who debates whether a fight between
“So, why would a media company or a television
two amateur boxers should be covered so intensely.
network consider putting him on because really
KSI versus Paul has been a trending topic worldwide they’re just servicing their market and their audience
now with the likes of media and press companies Sky and when it comes to making that decision, that’s not
Sports, BBC and Talksport all heavily involved in the based, and from a business perspective shouldn’t be
coverage. However, it is been argued by boxing purists based, whatsoever on how good the boxer is.
that a fight between two relativity new boxers should
“It should be based on who wants to see it and
not have this much coverage.
that’s just the fact of boxing, the nature of the sport
“I guess the first thing to say is that none of them and that’s basically the long and short of it. Whether
would be doing it if there wasn’t a demand from they’re good or not if people want to watch them have
people, so really it’s an audience-driven decision,” a fight then someone, somewhere is going to broadcast
Taylor said.
that and that’s what we’ve got here.
“It’s obvious that millions of people want to see
“It’s not going to be a pure boxing spectacle or like a
these two do anything, whether it’s commentating on Floyd Mayweather fight, it’s going to be two guys that
FIFA or vlogging about something, and now they’re have never had a professional fight before trying to
actually having a fight, people want to watch it so it’s knock each other out and you know, there are millions
only normal and really standard procedure that media of people that want to see that,” said Taylor.
companies will cover what people want to see. That’s
With the number of people tuning in to watch the
how you’re going to get views.
fight, media corporations have almost been forced to
“From a boxing purist perspective, I can see the cover the event with regular boxing being pushed aside
argument: why are these guys getting so
much coverage?
“There are so many other better boxers,
more accomplished boxers that aren’t
getting this coverage.
“But it’s a decision based on their
customers, their market and I think
they’ll be vindicated in thinking that
these are the guys fighting that people
want to see on a big scale.”
Despite the wide criticism, the
rematch drew in a huge audience. The
coverage of the previous fight in 2018
smashed viewing figure records with
the fight racking in over one million
pay per view buys, making it the biggest
non-professional fight of all time. An
estimated 2.25 million watched the
original.
Clearly there is definite media value to
it. However, again this has come under
fire from boxing fans with the argument
of whether a boxing fight between new
boxers with limited skillsets should
have extensive coverage over that of a
professional bout.
“I mean, I don’t think it’s a matter of
fairness, because, if you think about
boxing as a whole and I mean all
professional boxing, I mean from the
start of the century when it first started
to be popular or people watching it and
having an appetite to see people fight.
“People will turn up or tune in to
see people fight because they have a KSI and Logan Paul at their press conference (Pic: PA Images)
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with the mainstream figures of YouTubers moving in.
It’s a win-win situation for media corporations but
is the fight being covered for the possibility of high
viewing figures and the fighters’ popularity rather than
a focus on a legitimate fight that deserves coverage.
You wouldn’t necessarily take this decision based
on the quality of the boxers, that’s not a concern, the
concern is how many people want to see it.
“KSI and Logan Paul, I think people have realised
these two deserve the mainstream coverage because
so many people are interested, so many people are
going to tune in, the numbers on YouTube don’t lie
and to be honest I think it’s more of a cultural thing.
“This is an event which is the first of its kind and I
think the dawning of a new era where people don’t need
mainstream coverage to become massive superstars.
“I’m a little bit worried about the fact there are
no headguards and they’re wearing little gloves, but
that’s the game for you. Hopefully, no one gets hurt by
this because it is a dangerous sport and these two guys
don’t know what they’re doing,’ said Taylor.
Despite the criticism, the fight between the two
internet celebrities was an explosive one and one that
drew in an audience boxing has not seen for a while.
It may have even kick-started a revolution, with
more fights and events in other sports to follow, but it
will undoubtedly not be able to please everyone with
some purists still not interested despite the fanfare.