Boxing is taking a massive hit of late, with super-fights failing to get over the line and YouTubers thinking they can be professional boxers without actually having a real contest.
The waters are muddy, and it seems everyone wants a slice of the YouTube follower pie.
Major outlets now run stories about YouTuber fights above the seasoned and talented boxers that don’t command the same level of social media exposure.
This situation is wrong and has to stop!
As with many things broken within the sport, World Boxing News has again taken a stand. As always, WBN fights for what is correct in boxing.
Writing about YouTubers continually posing as boxers to hoodwink their fans to buy Pay-Per-Views is not representative of what our sport is all about.
It’s a freak show and belongs solely on YouTube.
WBN won’t even mention YouTubers’ names on our website if they attempt to turn professional and don’t plan to fight anybody with a pulse.
This scenario is happening right now, and real boxing fans are powerless to stop it. However, one thing the major media players can do is cease reporting these clowns.
Stop giving them the exposure hoping that you gain a few extra hits from the millennial generation who wouldn’t know a good boxer if he punched them in the face.
They think boxing is what gets presented to them by the YouTuber of their choice. The vast majority don’t research, past or present, the most significant fights to see what the sport truly represents.
This generation of watching people watching other people watching movies or video games is laughable. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything professional.
So far, those who have laced up the gloves have not had any considerable talent whatsoever. They merely became famous for creatung a channel that became popular by chance, most of the time.
YOUTUBE BOXING MYTH
Gaining many followers for a reason unknown to anyone with half a brain, they could play tiddlywinks and still achieve a Pay Per View audience of a million.
It’s not a success story in boxing. It’s simply a numbers game. Anyone that tells you otherwise is lying.
Those who give these pretenders the platform are the real ones with the brains here. They know anyone with millions of followers can sell anything. Boxing is just the fall guy.
But media, especially those at the top of the sport and with the most views, should not give any real time to YouTubers. They have to concentrate on the real boxers, who are the ones who suffer from this.
Let’s get back to working out how we can improve our sport. Not how we can bring in a new audience who won’t even stay once that favorite YouTuber is humbled.
Relying on this is not the way forward, and the media have a responsibility to do what’s right.
The views expressed in this article are that of the Editor, Phil Jay. WBN is the top-visited independent boxing news website in the world.
Phil Jay is the Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2018. And a member of the Sports Journalists’ Association. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
