YouTube personality KSI has turned down an offer from Jake Paul to fight, and will instead face former musical collaborate Swarmz on August 27th.
As Dana White recently said, throwing fights ain’t easy and all the boxing YouTubers are learning this the hard way this summer. First Jake Paul vs. Hasan Rahman Jr. was canceled because Rahman Jr. couldn’t make weight, and now KSI vs. Alex Wassabi is off because Wassabi suffered a concussion in training.
Paul, never a man to pass up on an opportunity for self-promotion, offered to step in for Wassabi and face KSI, only to be turned down. “The Problem Child” even reached out to Tyron Woodley to see if the former UFC welterweight champion would fight KSI.
“KSI just tweeted me for fighting Tyron Woodley at three weeks’ notice, basically saying he’s an old UFC guy, trying to discredit my opponent,” Paul said in a recent Twitter video. “But KSI, I guarantee you would never fight Tyron Woodley, and he’s ready to step in and fight you at three week’s notice.”
“So if he’s just some old UFC guy you’re trying to discredit, why not fight him instead of some no-name opponent you’re about to put in? Because you won’t do it.”
You fought a man fresh out of hip surgery.
You fought and beat a past his prime Woodley with 3 weeks notice.
You made Gib fight at a weight that you knew he would struggle to reach with such short notice.
The list goes on. All of that ain’t gonna work with me fam. @jakepaul
— ksi (@KSI) August 6, 2022
In the end, KSI will keep his August 27th social media smackdown event together by fighting Swarmz, aka British rapper Brandon Scott. The two have collaborated in the past and even recorded music together, leading to a whole lot of disappointment in the Influencer world as to how lame the match-up is.
Even KSI seemed to admit it’s lame, saying this is more of a tune-up event than anything else.
There are still many good fights on this card that I’m excited to see. We are the only YouTube boxing event happening this summer. We’ve had many things try to disrupt this event but still we stand. This is a long term play, and I’ll happily take a small L now for a Big W later.
— ksi (@KSI) August 7, 2022
But hey, these are new-era celebrity boxing matches. 99% of them are going to be terrible, and nothing is ever going to change that. It was going to be terrible when it was KSI vs. Alex Wassabi, and it’s still going to be terrible now that it’s KSI vs. Swarmz. So what’s really been lost here? Nothing, other than the opportunity to see Jake Paul rip KSI apart. Say what you will about his fighting ability, but no one can sniff out a vulnerable opponent like Jake Paul.
(2/2) pic.twitter.com/TUvpMuOhnF
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) August 6, 2022
KSI’s boxing match against Swarms goes down August 27th from the O2 Arena in London, England. Also on the card: Faze Temper vs. Blueface and Deji vs. Fousey. The card will be carried worldwide on DAZN PPV.