In a “special exhibition” match on February 20, YouTuber Logan Paul has reached a contract to fight former boxing megastar Floyd Mayweather Jr. The bout will be streamed on Fanmio as a pay-per-view.
With a 50-0 record, several world titles in five weight classes, and an Olympic bronze medal, Mayweather is an unbeaten champion. Paul is best known for his infamous video on YouTube, where a dead body was shot in a Japanese jungle.
This is impossible to be a celebration of sporting prowess that is closely balanced. But for the spectacle and the paycheck, Mayweather is not without signing up for stupid tournaments. In 2017, his 50th official victory featured him coming out of retirement to face UFC star Conor McGregor, who had never boxed professionally before. In a highly panned exhibition match, he faced kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa the following year, winning by TKO in the first round.
Last month on Twitter, Mayweather called out Logan Paul, making his views on boxing YouTubers clear and claiming he’s “not the one for the kid games.” Paul’s pal, Jake, responded to Mayweather’s comments ahead of his fight against former NBA star Nate Robinson, which he ultimately won.
Jake told The Daily Beast that it doesn’t bother him. “At the end of the day, he’s like 5-foot-4, so he’s the little kid here, and he wants attention. He’s fifty-something years old. He should be in retirement. So he wants to get relevancy by talking about the YouTube kids because we’re the ones popping off right now.”
The entire thing is incredibly dumb, which is no wonder why many people are supposed to tune in by the organizers. The “early pricing” of $24.99 refers only to the revenue of the first million PPV, with the price rising to $39.99, then $59.99 on December 29, then $69.99 on February 11.
