By Alex Bowley
On the 13th of November Floyd Mayweather beat Deji Olatunji when the referee called off the fight in the 6th round giving Floyd Mayweather the technical knockout and the win. The fight turned out as expected with Floyd Mayweather dominating the YouTuber turned boxer Deji. During the fight, Mayweather was seen interacting with the crowd and taunting Deji’s corner. The fight came to its end when Deji did push-ups between the rounds, inciting Mayweather to deliver a combination of quick punches forcing the referee to get involved.
Now despite the result of the bout being all but decided since the fight was announced there were multiple subplots that were brought to the fore during the fight. Firstly, this fight was the first to be streamed in the metaverse, secondly, it was another example of the success of YouTube boxing.
MetaVerseBooks streamed the fight in the metaverse, they are also one of the first to breach this growing market. They are the first company to create a working platform to stream sports and entertainment. Will this fight be the first of many events performed in the metaverse? The metaverse allows you to watch any event in VR no matter your taste. MetaVerseBooks do: concerts, football games, theatre productions and so much more, as with the metaverse the possibilities are endless. To achieve an unprecedented likeness of the performers or sports stars they record before the event, these images are then made into lifelike avatars to be used in the metaverse along with the live feed from the event. This provides for a more immersive experience. However, the technology to access the metaverse is, at the moment, not mainstream enough for it to be a viable alternative for most fans. Despite this, watching events in the metaverse might become the new normal in the next couple of years.
The metaverse is an example of the changes to the boxing market and fandom that we could see in the future, but one of the changes that we have already seen is the rise of the YouTube boxing scene. The Youtube boxing faze came to life in 2018 when KSI (JJ Olatunji) beat Joe Weller in an amateur boxing fight. In the beginning, these boxing events were seen as gimmicks, mere ways to get more clicks and views for their social media channels. But, Youtube boxing has progressed, moving away from headguards and towards 10-ounce gloves, both standard practice among professional boxers. These YouTubers are now fighting bonafide boxers with professional records. Notably, Jake Paul recently fought UFC legend, Anderson Silva, beating him in a split decision. This begs the question, when do we stop referring to these guys as YouTube boxers and start to refer to them as professionals?
These YouTubers have brought a new audience to boxing, providing a gateway to the sport which some people may have otherwise not had. Despite, this perceived benefit of YouTube boxing many among the boxing community do not appreciate the rise in popularity of these social media stars. They believe that these entertainers are taking away from the sport, reducing it to something similar to WWE where the athletes are entertainers first and fighters second. They also bring up the point that these entertainers are making millions from their fights when more established boxers who have trained their whole lives do not get the same chances purely because they do not have a following on social media.
This fight between Deji and Floyd Mayweather outlines the changing landscape of boxing. The shift caused by the introduction of amateur boxing within the YouTube community has resulted in a fight involving a man who played a FIFA and a retired boxer being the first bout to headline a boxing night streamed on the metaverse.
