This is really happening. Logan Paul, a youtuber is fighting Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest boxers of all time. I’m not a Logan Paul fan by any means, but you’ve got to respect the pull he has. The fact that Floyd Mayweather even considered fighting this man is insane to me. This fight will get numbers. Serious numbers and so will they. However, in the long run the constant mix between celebrities and boxing could ruin the sport. Here’s why.
Firstly, all combat sports fighters are prize fighters, meaning they fight for money but with fighting for money, obviously comes the risk of serious injuries so it’s high risk, high reward. The issue with professionals fighting entertainers is that for the pro, there is low risk, high reward. This fight isn’t the best example for this as Floyd actually has a bit on the line in this fight (pride and fight record) but the future fights that could happen between entertainers and professionals will literally be simple cash grabs for these big names with less health risks. And since these fights will be gaining more views and PPV buys than professional fights due to celebrity status, boxing promoters will move towards more of these entertainer based cards. This leaves up and coming talent in the dark in terms of exposure and notoriety. In addition, these cards may bring in a new audience, but I can guarantee this will push the hardcore audience away from the sport as they want to see the best of the best going at each other. So when the hardcore audience is gone and this trend eventually dies. Then what? That base audience that should always be catered to doesn’t respect the fact that you ‘sold out’ and they’ve moved to a new promotion or even an entirely new sport in extreme cases.
This could potentially save boxing as well though. Fights like these that have these mega-stars and personalities does bring more exposure to the sport, which could cause some young fans of these guys to take up the sport, creating a bigger future to a ‘dying sport’. However, realistically speaking, how many people will start boxing just because Logan Paul boxed Floyd Mayweather and will that actually change anything in the grand scheme of the sport. Just because more people start to box, that doesn’t mean we’ll get better quality boxing. Also if Logan gets destroyed, then will these people really be inspired to train? I don’t think so. Logan’s fanbase, which is mostly children under 13 years old won’t take up the sport as their inspiration failed at it.
So what do I think will happen in this fight? Believe it or not Logan Paul can actually win this fight. He has a good jab and a huge advantage in height, reach and knockout power. If Logan doesn’t progress, keeps on the outside with that jab that means Floyd has to come in to his range to touch him. Logan can hit an uppercut or hook while Floyd is close to him, however, Floyd’s fight IQ is unmatched and will be way too fast for Logan andI expect him to school Logan in this fight. The footwork of ‘Money’ is unrivalled which will help him avade Logan’s punches. Logan does have a good gas tank to be fair to him, but I still think Floyd will tire him out and will win by decision. I don’t see a knockout happening in this fight because as I said before I think Floyd is too fast for Logan and Floyd doesn’t have that KO power to knockout a bigger guy in my opinion. I believe his last KO was against Victor Ortiz in 2011 and even that one was a bit suspect. It was fair, but for some reason Ortiz just stopped fighting.
I think this will be very interesting where this takes the world of boxing. I think the result and the manner in which the winner becomes victorious could potentially ruin boxing in the future.
TheWrestlingFallacy 