It’s another YouTuber vs YouTuber attraction in Miami on the big DAZN bill this Thursday night, and it’s again garnered plenty of attention. YouTube sensations, Jake Paul and AnEsonGib form part of Demetrius Andrade’s WBO Middleweight title defence against Ireland’s Luke Keeler, as well as a host of decent matches.
Hot on the heels of the rematch between KSI and Logan Paul just before Christmas, Paul’s brother Jake gets in on the act, also under professional rules for the first time, after a White Collar bout 18 months ago.
His opponent is another internet star, an online gamer who specialises in live competitions of the FIFA series on platforms such as YouTube.
The fight will be over six rounds at light-heavyweight. AnEsonGib, who was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia first came to prominence when winning a wager playing FIFA 14 against KSI and has garnered a huge number of followers and views of his content, with over 1m followers on Twitter and Instagram combined, whilst he has amassed over two million subscribers on YouTube.
23-year old-Paul is also another social media sensation, with over 19 million subscribers on YouTube.
‘The Problem Child’ mainly made his name on the now defunct media streaming platform, Vine and first came to prominence as a star of the programme Bizaardvark, but quickly gained a reputation for a series of controversies.
On the release of a music video titled “It’s Everyday Bro”, Paul received unprecedented backlash; a video which became the third most disliked video on the website.
In July of the same year, Paul wa struck with more contention, after angry neighbours in the Los Angeles area were reportedly considering filing a class action public nuisance lawsuit, losing patience with his wild ways.
This came after Paul made his home address public, prompting crowds of fans to gather outside his residence.
Paul has fought before in the unpaid code, on the same bill as his brother’s original meeting with KSI in August 2018. That night in Manchester, Jake met KSI’s younger brother Deji and won inside five rounds, with the Brit’s corner throwing in the towel after an accumulation of unanswered shots.
Paul has employed former three-weight world champion and hall of famer ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley to his corner and has been training up in Big Bear ahead of the bout at Meridian at Island Gardens.
Gib, 23, known as ‘Seven Figure Gibber’ has already stoked the fires, predicting “a war” when the two come together in Miami.
“I think madness is embedded into my DNA,” Gib told Sky Sports.
“For him, when push comes to shove, he likes to have control in every situation of his life.
“This is a type of situation when he doesn’t have control. He doesn’t have control of his opponent, he won’t be in control of the fight, so I think that type of pressure will eat him a little bit.
“Realistically, everyone knows what I’m bringing,” Gib continued.
“He’s bringing athleticism, he’s the better boxer out of the Pauls and what am I bringing? I’m bringing heat.
“Twelve rounds of action to a six-round fight and we’ll see if he can deal with it. It’s war. That’s what is it, the fight is war”.
Paul has been trained by legend of the sport, Shane Mosley, while Gib has enlisted the services of 3-0 Cruiserweight Viddal Riley, who guided KSI to victory over Logan Paul in their rematch and campaigns under the Mayweather Promotions banner.
Prediction: Again, who knows what could happen when two men that are complete novices get together in a professional boxing ring. I side towards Paul though, but there should be customary wild swings from the pair. Knowing little about the pair’s boxing ability, I predict a points win for Paul, in what will probably be sure to open future cans of worms with other fights being made.
In the main event, Demetrius Andrade makes a third defence of his WBO world middleweight title against Irishman Luke Keeler, Tevin Farmer defends his IBF Super Featherweight crown against Joseph Diaz and Unified Super Bantamweight champion Daniel Roman puts his WBA (Super) and IBF titles on the line against Olympic Bronze medalist Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
