YouTuber boxing events from the likes of Jake Paul and KSI are unlikely to have a place on the massive superfight cards that are currently being held in Saudi Arabia.
When YouTuber boxing events started out, they weren’t exactly small, but they also couldn’t match the presentation of a massive heavyweight title fight. There was plenty of hype around KSI vs Joe Weller and then KSI vs Logan Paul, but things have gone up a notch in the last few years.
The move to professional fights rather than just purely exhibitions has helped too, as has Jake Paul’s ambition to fight ‘real’ boxers instead of just having crossover events.
The ‘Problem Child’ has even managed to follow in the footsteps of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury by having a money-spinning fight in Saudi Arabia against Tommy Fury. However, we probably shouldn’t expect to see many more of those.
YouTuber boxing events being stopped in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has pretty much become the home of massive boxing fights in recent years, especially with all the money being thrown behind them.
Jake’s fight with Tommy is the only big YouTuber event to be held there, and is likely to be the last – at least for the foreseeable future. “Please, we don’t want any YouTuber fights again,” Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, told DAZN.
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“I don’t talk about names, I want fighters, I want fighters, this is what I support. Maybe another section in GEA will do something like this for the fans to make them happy, but me, I want fighters, I want to see the fighters.”
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While Jake’s next fight is happening in Puerto Rico on March 2nd, there has been a long-awaited rematch with Tommy mooted too.
Given the Fury’s inability to enter the United States, that would leave the UK or Saudi as the only options for a host. So, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.