US Edition
Tommy Fury wins fight on majority decision but KSI claims 'robbery'
Tommy Fury defeated KSI on a majority decision in Manchester on Saturday night but the expected gap in class between the professional and the YouTuber turned out to be wafer-thin.
One judge scored the six-round contest a draw and the other two judges saw the fight as being 57-56 to Fury, but the verdict was far from clear and there was plenty of sympathy for KSI when he called it “robbery”.
KSI had a simple plan of keeping his quick hands low, lunging with a jab, and then grabbing onto his opponent. It was hardly sophisticated stuff but Fury looked totally unable to solve the puzzle, and could never get his jab working convincingly, nor bring his superior physicality to bear.
Fury was spoken to once for hitting KSI on the back of the head, and when he did it a second time, in round two, the referee correctly docked him a point.
KSI, who punched a wall of the Dazn TV studio in frustration afterwards, could reasonably have hoped that the point would have seen him over the line in what was little more than an 18-minute cuddle. Neither man landed anything much.
At the end of the Misfits Boxing bout there was the inevitable targeting of future opponents, including Jake Paul for KSI. For Fury, it’s hard to see where he goes from here and the suspicion is that he might have found his level.
Earlier in the evening, Logan Paul had come through a bizarre contest with his fellow American Dillon Danis. The Manchester crowd booed The Star Spangled Banner and there was not much to write home about in the fight either.
It ended with Danis, an MMA competitor, attempting to lie on the canvas and kick up at Paul with both legs, before attacking him after the final bell. That led to a brawl involving security, with Danis throwing more meaningful shots at the bouncers than he managed in the fight. He richly deserved his disqualification but Fury’s night was almost as embarrassing.
Reactions
Eubank Jr: “I thought KSI won, he landed more. It happens, you don’t get the decision. It makes you stronger. But everyone sees the fight differently. Some judges look at it as which boxer is moving forward, which is an amateur way of looking at it, but people see things differently. He had a solid game plan and it messed up Fury.”
KSI: “I landed the cleaner shots, he couldn’t get any jabs off. I slipped them, I landed overhead. Fury landed 12 punches the whole fight. I threw more shots and I landed more.”
KSI has punched a wall. One has to sympathise with him. Not sure that 12 punch stat is right though.
Idris Virgo: “That was robbery.”
Tommy Fury wins on majority decision
57-57 says one judge
57-56 to Tommy Fury say the other two.
Well, that’s one way to look at it.
Fury: “I want to thank my Lord and Saviour. I did it for Manchester, I love you. I couldn’t use my right hand for six weeks in the preparation, I am not an excuse maker. I fought my heart out in there. I am trying to be the best I can be. He is an awkward man. I am done with all this crossover s***.” [Then immediately says he isn’t].
KSI: “That is a robbery bro. How many jabs did you land? Look at your face, look at your eyes. I’m the YouTuber, you are the boxer so you have to win? He is the man who is one who is supposed to be the pro boxer. He hit me on the back of the head over and over. It is outrageous. I want to appeal. I need to see it again. I felt like I won that.”
I wouldn’t say that it was a total carve up but it was a debatable call.
Fury is very fortunate.
Over to the judges
I reckon that point deduction might have cooked Fury’s goose. Probably three rounds each but a point off for Tommy Fury?
Hard so say for sure. Poor fare.
Whatever the judges decide, a huge and probably fatal blow to Tommy Fury’s claims to be a professional boxer. He looked like a chump, KSI was a puzzle he couldn’t solve.
And fair play to KSI, he found a gameplan that worked for him and he carried it off well.
Round five: neither man does much
The contest has been poor and that round the worst so far. Clinching, shoving, barely a punch worthy of the name. Difficult to score. Difficult to watch. Fury looks like a professional boxer in name only.
Given the point deduction I’d say KSI is ahead going into the final round.
Round four: Fury again, just about
First minute of this is just grappling. I think this ref could be a bit sharper at ending these clinches. Fury is moaning at the referee, not certain why. Fury has manhandled the smaller man onto the rope but can’t then land much. KSI looking a bit tired now.
Each man has landed 26 punches over the four rounds.
Round two: Fury rightly docked a point
Fury catches KSI early on here. If he can get hold of KSI he’s able to tire him and wear him down. But now he’s hurt him by grabbing him and hitting him on the back of the head again. This time they do dock him a point.
Mainly cuddling in this round, and that suits Fury more I’d say. He is a big strong lad. Overall though, that’s another round to KSI on account of the point deduction.
Round One: KSI with a hot start
KSI is quick. He’s using a wide stance with low hands and he’s got fast hands. Wild swings. He catches Fury with a right.
Fury not using his jab, he is lunging at him.
KSI is clutching the back of his head. Has Fury hit him on the back of the head? Yes. Fury grabbed him and socked him on the back of the head. They don’t dock him a point.
KSI gets a useful body shot in at the end of the round and all things considered I would have to give that round to KSI.
KSI is in a car!
Gurning and scowling. Dry ice everywhere. Is it supposed to be moving? It is not moving. How funny if he gets stuck in there. It’s a green sportscar with ‘Prime’ on it. A minion arrives to help KSI out of the car.
Now he is joined by a rapper - sorry, I’ll have to check who! Ah, the rapper’s name is Giggs. No relation etc etc etc. Giggs does a turn.
KSI has got the world’s most expensive mouthguard. I reckon he might need it.
KSI vs Tommy Fury coming up
You still have time to take advantage of these betting offers and free bets before the ringwalks begin. Don’t miss your chance to add some excitement to the main event.
Logan Paul vs Dillon Danis
Danis tries a backhanded flick punch and misses. Now he lies down on the ground and sort of thrusts his crutch up at Paul. This bloke is an absolute berk.
Paul wins that round by a distance as well, 3-0 so far and unless he completely takes his eye off the ball, Logan Paul should win.
Few boos in the crowd during round four, poor fare this, hardly a shot thrown. A bit of wrestling after the bell. Paul has landed 82 punches to his opponent’s NINE.
Paul wins round five as well, Danis making him look like Sugar Ray Leonard, and the sooner this dreck is over the better as far as I can see.
In round six. Danis now tries to rugby tackle Paul around the legs, and some security guards come in the ring briefly.
With a second or so left, Danis jumps onto the floor and kicks up with both feet at Logan Paul. What on earth is this man doing?! Bizarre.
The final bell goes. And Danis continues to try and go for Paul - about a million security guards jump into the ring, and now Danis tries to punch the security blokes! He has thrown more shots at the security guys than he has during the match. The security men are now all beefing with each other.
Danis has made a complete fool of himself.
Logan Paul wins, ah Dillon Danis is disqualified.
Logan Paul: “he’s supposed to be good at jiujitsu. He tried everything. He is a coward, truly a dirty human being. He is a true demon. The last two months have not been easy. Be resilient and no amount of darkness can overtake you. Conor McGregor? I took your b**** out for a walk. If you want to stand up I will fight you.” Also calls out some WWE champion. Hulk Hogan? Giant Haystacks? I dunno.
Now his brother Jake is in on the mike: “that was easy.”
Logan Paul vs Dillon Danis
Danis looks to have no boxing aptitude whatsoever. Just shuffling forward with both gloves up, looking to wrestle. Hasn’t thrown a punch in the first couple of minutes. I suppose it’s possible that Paul punches himself out.
In the second round, Paul launches a 20 or 25 punch assault to the head and body. Danis is just standing there. All one way traffic.
Danis
He’s coming to the ring to the tune of Free From Desire, one of my all-time favourite walk-up choons.
There’s a LOT of security in the ring. Danis has fought in MMA.
Logan Paul and he are, of course, both American and we are thus having the national anthem of America. Which is being booed by the crowd in Manchester.
Salt Papi stopped!
At the start of the third round, Salt Papi taunts Slim, and get properly clipped for it. He’s dropping his hands and shaking his head. Been hit several times there.
Does Slim have the power to finish this off in this third round?
He’s been caught firmly on the jaw there and Salt Papi is knocked down. He gets up but only just and I think the ref will have to stop this. Salt Papi is not keeping his guard up, and he’s caught again by a juddering shot - and the referee stops the fight.
Slim Albaher defeats Salt Papi in the antepenultimate contest of the evening.
There's three fights left
KSI vs. Tommy Fury
Logan Paul vs. Dillon Danis
Salt Papi vs. Slim Albaher
Deen the Great vs. Walid Sharks - Deen wins
King Kenny vs. Anthony Taylor - Taylor wins
Whindersson Nunes vs. My Mate Nate - Nate wins
Wassabi Lmao (Alex Wassabi & NichLmao) vs. Los Pineda Coladas (Luis Alcaraz Pineda & BDave) - draw
Tyson Fury
“Tommy is going to knock this b**** out cold. This is beautiful for the game. These boys are doing a fantastic job of selling the sport, the sport I have loved my whole life.
“I’m fat. Once a fat f***** always a fat f*****.
“When your family is fighting, you are always nervous. Could be whoever, they could be fighting a bin man. Your blood is going. I will be in there with him, slipping the shot. This isn’t like, oh I am going to eat a packet of crisps, you have to take it seriously. Anything can happen.
“If I go to the pub and get hit by some big lunk (?) at the bar and he hits me it is going to hurt. And that’s not like a killer like my next opponent Franics Ngannou. Every man has to be treated with respect.”
Deen the Great
wins by unanimous decision and retains his lightweight ‘Misfits’ belt. He’s got some skills, decent hands and he showed some heart at the end there because he was hit a few times.
“I had a dislocated shoulder before and it came out in the third. You got to change the food in Manchester you have not salt and seasoning. I am a SWEAR warrior and nobody can SWEAR with me. Needs a handicap sign so he can park in the handicap spaces.” Classy.
He also calls out Ryan Garcia. Garcia is ranked as the world’s fourth-best active lightweight by The Ring magazine. Think that might be a tad ambitious!
ha
Deen the Great vs. Walid Sharks
That’s turned out to be an excellent contest, in and of itself, as Walid comes back really strongly and he’s hurt Deen several times in that last round. If that had lasted another minute I reckon Walid would have knocked him out.
Nevertheless, Deen put Walid down twice and that should be more than enough for the W.
Deen the Great vs. Walid Sharks
is up next.
Here’s Walid Sharks. He is dressed as a shark.
And he has tagged Deen straight from the off! Good punch that. Deen lands a decent one of his own, and then Sharks again. Not a bad standard this so far, they both have quite quick hands. No defence being shown by either. Sharks is only 19. They’ve fought before and Deen won.
After a bit of grappling, Deen The Great grabs Walid Sharks from behind and pretends to hump him. This kid is an absolute weapon.
Deen The Great with an excellent second round, he’s knocked Walid down twice. Straight right and then again on the counter with an uppercut. Well boxed. Sharks manages to survive the round.
Fury has to win, doesn't he?
Surely a professional with the boxing heritage of Tommy Fury can’t lose? Or has the script been written for the unbeaten YouTuber KSI? Back your favourite with these betting offers and free bets.
Card so far
KSI vs. Tommy Fury
Logan Paul vs. Dillon Danis
Salt Papi vs. Slim Albaher
Deen the Great vs. Walid Sharks
King Kenny vs. Anthony Taylor - Taylor wins
Whindersson Nunes vs. My Mate Nate - Nate wins
Wassabi Lmao (Alex Wassabi & NichLmao) vs. Los Pineda Coladas (Luis Alcaraz Pineda & BDave) - draw
Anthony Taylor
is the next man to fight. His ring walk features him in a pink robe with four dancing girls wearing not a lot.
Just for clarity’s sake, this is not the Cheshire-based Premier League referee Anthony Taylor.
This here Anthony Taylor is a YouTube influencer out of Los Angeles, known as Pretty Boy and “The Muhammad Ali of Influencer Boxing”. He’s got Only Fans and a betting advert on his trunks, and the crowd are giving him a bit of a boo.
KSI and Tommy Fury coming closer
You still have time to take advantage of these betting offers and free bets before the ringwalks begin. Don’t miss your chance to add some excitement to the main event.
Final round of bout two
My Mate Nate has boxed quite well, looks to have okay technique albeit not a lot of power. Nunes carries a bit more of a wallop I think and is probably behind coming into the fourth round of four. But it’s quite close and Nunes still well in it if he can land a few here.
Second fight!
It’s a man who is literally called MY MATE NATE, who lives in Thailand, against a boy from Brazil called Whindersson Nunes.
Early signs are that these guys are actually going to have a boxing match and, yeah, this looks like actual boxing, albeit at a modest level. The tag team thing before was just like some teenagers shoving and pushing in a locker room.
Here's a bit more about commentator Coachman
“Coachman began his WWF career as an interviewer, commentator, and presenter. Coachman was also involved in occasional segments with The Rock in which The Rock attempted to humiliate Coachman in any form possible, whether it was forcing him to sing, dance, or smile for the camera. The Rock also accused Coachman of performing rather lewd activities with farm animals.”
“The Coach made a heel turn against Shane McMahon on August 24, 2003, at SummerSlam.”
Who could forget?
Tag Team Event
Nichlmao and Wassabi are the tag team opponents. It’s all going there way so far. Bdave has been thumped good and he’s tagged out. Wassabi knocks down Pineda, who spits out his gumshield to buy a bit more time, that’s the first vaguely professional moment we have seen so far.
I’ve warmed to BDave. He’s certainly giving it a go. Wassabi has him on the back foot here though.
The DAZN commentators are SO into this. One is called Roundhouse, another one seems to be called Jonathan Coachman. Todd Grisham too.
I think what this stream of consciousness Tweeter is saying is that this should be treated like WWF not boxing, i.e. a madcap sport-tainment product.
The AO Arena Manchester
is sold out.
Ade Oladipo is the DAZN host.
He is joined by Chris Eubank Junior. “It is great to be back here, a month ago I was the man getting in the ring.”
Idris Virgo also joins them.
And another feller with glasses and jeans who I cannot place. Ah yes. Ariel Helwani is his name, he is a Canadian-American sports journalist, known for his coverage of mixed martial arts (MMA).
Boxing spectacle coming up
Good evening, and welcome to our live blog coverage of the exhibition fight between KSI and Tommy Fury, a six-round event in Manchester. The two fighters will be in the ring, we think, at around 10pm but there is a lot to get through before then, including an undercard/joint headline feature with Logan Paul and Dillon Danis. It’s become a regular industry in its own right, this celebrity and YouTuber fight game, and while the purists won’t have a bar of it, you cannot deny that there has been a lot of interest in the occasion.
This fight is not licensed by the British Boxing Board of Control. That is because KSI, real name Olajide William Olatunji, does not hold a professional boxing licence in the UK. Fury, on the other hand, has had nine fights as a professional and has won all of them, four by knockout. On paper, you would think that Fury, half-brother of heavyweight champ Tyson, should have far too much expertise to put the multi-talented rapper/videomaker/entertainer/whatever in his box. Fury, who like Tyson and dad John certainly talks a good game, has said:
“It’s easy money. Anybody else in my position wouldn’t turn it down. Even world champions. Normally I’d be fighting these big old scary Russian guys, who have got about 30 knockouts on his record. If you’re going to ask me to fight KSI, a YouTuber, or Jake Paul, no problem. Sign me up.”
That sounds about right but boxing is a murky business at the best of times and nobody could bet on something like this with much confidence.
“This isn’t my final destination. I’m not going to beat these guys and that’s it. I will beat these guys and go on to achieve what I always said I would achieve.”
He reckons he has a shot at being a World Champion. Well, we’ll see, won’t we? KSI, meanwhile, looks in very decent shape and seems to be a talented guy. Whether he’s got the boxing skills remains to be seen. Stick with us for the DAZN TV coverage from 7pm, and we’ll get stuck in.
How can I watch it in the UK? If you want to watch it in the UK it’s live on PPV on the DAZN sports network for the princely sum of £19.99. If that’s too rich for your blood, stick with me and you won’t miss a punch, nor any of the verbals and hoopla neither.