Logan Paul is one of YouTube’s biggest and most divisive icons, having made an arguably major comeback after his incident in Japan — and he’s attributing is current success to one of his biggest rivals.
It’s no secret that Logan Paul became one of the internet’s most hated influencers after filming a video in Japan’s Aokigahara Forest in 2017. The footage showed the body of a recently-deceased suicide victim, and Paul saw immense backlash as a result.
Paul received punishment from YouTube and even saw his content removed from Google Preferred, among being the talk of the entire world for months — but in the midst of all the backlash, he took an unexpected step forward by getting into a beef with British creator KSI, which resulted in a boxing match that changed the YouTube landscape.
Paul and KSI’s initial match ended in a draw, and the two faced off again in 2019, where KSI emerged victorious. Despite his loss in the split-decision bout, Paul has seen immense growth ever since, boasting a hugely popular podcast and even scoring a fight with Floyd Mayweather.
In a surprising turn of events (owing to their infamous rivalry), the YouTuber attributed his current success to KSI, claiming that their boxing beef had started a new chapter in his life and kickstarted his eventual comeback.
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“Shoutout KSI, like for real,” Paul said during an April 1 episode of his imPaulsive podcast. “I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to fight, literally fight, my way back up. Literally, dude. I’m fighting to try to change me and try to earn a spot back in what I — I wanted to be back with my peers in a respectable way.”
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“And I did so through boxing,” he continued. “It was a nice, career pivot that really helped me find out who I was and become a person I really love. It was a bit of a cheat code for me. Not a cheat code, but it worked!”
His words didn’t fall on deaf ears; KSI was made aware of Paul’s comments and responded in an Instagram comment, where he expressed respect for his longtime rival.
“No need to thank me,” he wrote. “He’s done all the work and smashed it. Huge respect, for real.”
Despite their past beef, it seems that these two are now on good terms after sparking a huge boxing movement that has seemingly made big changes in their lives.
