Influencer Boxing: The Good & The Bad
It’s no secret that social media is becoming more prevalent in boxing.
Many people may not take it seriously, but it does have benefits for the sport of boxing.
Recently, social media influencer Jake Paul and the undefeated Tommy Fury headlined the event which garnered massive attention across the world. The event, which took place in Saudi Arabia, is just the most recent in a line of influencer boxing events, and due to the audiences and numbers they attract, it certainly won’t be the last.
We believe that there are both positive and negative impacts of having social media influencers take part in the sport of boxing - and in this article, we will be discussing these impacts in depth.
THE BAD.
Are social media influencers diminishing the art of boxing?
As we mentioned in our previous article, there are countless professional boxers around the world who work tirelessly every day to try and make something of themselves while balancing families and full-time jobs but are never able to break through and get into the big fights that pay the big money.
There is an understandable distaste when it comes to the financial side of the sport.
For example, while Jake Paul suffered the first loss of his boxing career to Tommy Fury, he certainly didn’t walk away empty-handed.
Paul announced on his podcast that he earned $30 million for the fight.
If the rise of social media influencers in boxing has taught the sports world anything, it’s that professional boxing remains more business than sport. And marketability is everything.
As boxing regains its popularity, we hope to see well-deserving professional boxers get their payday as there will be more money circling through the sport in the years to come.
So if a promotion is ready to give social media influencers these figures, then their fighters have the right to ask for more.
Although until then, we have to give respect to anyone who dedicates themselves to getting better at the sweet science and having the courage to step in the ring in front of millions of people.
THE GOOD.
Whether we like it or not, the sport of boxing has been on the decline over the last two decades.
Our sport seems to have lost much of its relevance due to the emergence of the UFC.
Professional boxing has been lacking stars that will get people to buy tickets and tune in to watch.
Boxers such as Terence Crawford and Dmitry Bivol are both current champions with some name recognition, but these names cannot match the popularity of stars like Muhammed Ali or Mike Tyson.
But boxing is not dead yet, it needs something to jump-start it and make the sport popular again, and with the rise of social media influencers stepping into the ring - we will also see a rise of young people becoming fans and taking up the sport of boxing. Bringing more talent and eyeballs to our sport.
Even the legendary Mike Tyson told Complex Magazine, “My reality is they help boxing so much.
Boxing owes these YouTube boxers some kind of respect. They should give these guys some kind of belts because these guys make boxing alive.
Boxing was pretty much a dying sport.”
The sport we love is getting the love it deserves - and that is a big positive.
Summary.
In conclusion, we think the positives outweigh the negatives.
The rise of influencer boxing is taking the sport to new heights.
Not only is it bringing in new fans and increasing revenue, but it’s also generating increased media coverage and introducing boxing to fans of other sports. Influencer boxing events often get more media coverage than regular boxing events, and this can help bring attention that our sport needs.
For the boxing community, there is also a lot to learn from social media influencers.
A large reason why social media boxing events have succeeded is the tremendous amount of promotion through multiple social media platforms.
Many of the influencers that step in the ring have tens of millions of followers, which they promote and market to constantly, and this is a big reason why there is so much interest in the fights and PPV sales.
We are already seeing many professional boxers such as Ryan Garcia, Rolly Romero, and Gervonta Davis prioritize growing their social media followings.
Big promotion companies, such as DAZN and Mayweather Promotions have started to adapt to a new method of promotion through social media.
What do you think? Let us know! And if you’re looking for boxing tips - click here to read our articles..
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