Good evening, and welcome to our live blog coverage of the exhibition fight between KSI and Tommy Fury, a six-round event in Manchester. The two fighters will be in the ring, we think, at around 10pm but there is a lot to get through before then, including an undercard/joint headline feature with Logan Paul and Dillon Danis. It’s become a regular industry in its own right, this celebrity and YouTuber fight game, and while the purists won’t have a bar of it, you cannot deny that there has been a lot of interest in the occasion.
This fight is not licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control. That is because KSI, real name Olajide William Olatunji, does not hold a professional boxing licence in the UK. Fury, on the other hand, has had nine fights as a professional and has won all of them, four by knockout. On paper, you would think that Fury, half-brother of heavyweight champ Tyson, should have far too much expertise to put the multi-talented rapper/videomaker/entertainer/whatever in his box. Fury, who like Tyson and dad John certainly talks a good game, has said:
“It’s easy money. Anybody else in my position wouldn’t turn it down. Even world champions. Normally I’d be fighting these big old scary Russian guys, who have got about 30 knockouts on his record. If you’re going to ask me to fight KSI, a YouTuber, or Jake Paul, no problem. Sign me up.”
That sounds about right but boxing is a murky business at the best of times and nobody could bet on something like this with much confidence.
“This isn’t my final destination. I’m not going to beat these guys and that’s it. I will beat these guys and go on to achieve what I always said I would achieve.”
He reckons he has a shot at being a World Champion. Well, we’ll see, won’t we? KSI, meanwhile, looks in very decent shape and seems to be a talented guy. Whether he’s got the boxing skills remains to be seen. Stick with us for the DAZN TV coverage from 7pm, and we’ll get stuck in.
How can I watch it in the UK? If you want to watch it in the UK it’s live on PPV on the DAZN sports network for the princely sum of £19.99. If that’s too rich for your blood, stick with me and you won’t miss a punch, nor any of the verbals and hoopla neither.