The Fury-Paul Fight: YouTube Boxing Meets Saudi Money

Paul’s foray into boxing has been viewed as a stunt by many, but he has now won six fights as a sanctioned professional. Granted, they came against a motley crew of retired mixed martial artists, a former N.B.A. point guard and a fellow YouTuber.

Fury is a somewhat more legitimate professional boxer, though his career is similar to Paul’s — but in reverse. He first fought as a professional in 2018, before taking time off to film the reality television program “Love Island” and then returning to the ring. Fury has an 8-0 record, and while a number of those fights were just to pad his record — his first five opponents had combined to win 12 fights and lose 174 — they were at least all against boxers.

The promoter Bob Arum called Fury a “novice” professional, while Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, said, “It’s not a lot of fights as a pro, but he’s had eight fights, and he’s obviously got amateur experience.”

Paul’s appeal as a boxer to his legion of young fans is that the fights are real and that his calls to fight the best boxers in the world, like Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, are not the ramblings of a social-media star but the aspirations of a real athlete. A loss to Fury — the 350th best cruiserweight in the world, according to BoxRec — could dent that image and that of other YouTubers-turned-boxers, like Logan Paul and KSI.

What could be as damaging, or helpful, to the YouTube boxing phenomenon are the conclusions of Top Rank, a promotion company, and ESPN.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/sports/fury-paul-fight-saudi.html