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) 13 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.