Dejuan Blake, Pulls Back The Curtains On How Logan Paul Successfully Transitioned From YouTube Sensation To Boxing Star

By: Hans Themistode

All the pieces appeared to come back collectively within the blink of an eye fixed.

Newly inducted Corridor of Famer, Floyd Mayweather, dropped a bombshell on the boxing world when he introduced that he could be taking up YouTuber turned semi-pro boxer, Logan Paul. The 2 are slated to face off on June sixth, on the Laborious Rock Resort, in Miami Florida. The occasion has already compelled the competitors to maneuver out of the best way as undisputed light-weight champion, Teofimo Lopez, who was set to tackle necessary challenger George Kambosos Jr. on Triller at some point prior, are critically contemplating transferring off of the date completely as to not compete with Mayweather.

On the skin wanting in, Mayweather’s showdown towards Paul gives the look that it was an one contest to make. A worldwide icon in Mayweather alongside a rockstar in Logan Paul, merely screams greenback indicators. With that mentioned, it wasn’t so simple as many would consider. In reality, it took years and somebody with the audacity and avenue smarts to tug the set off on the complete ordeal.

“Logan’s staff reached out to me like two years in the past,” mentioned Dejuan Blake, CEO of affiliation administration and the cousin of Floyd Mayweather throughout an interview on BoxingInsider podcast. “However it didn’t fall by throughout that point. It was truly Logan eager to struggle the KSI man. We shopped it to Showtime however the Showtime deal didn’t fall by.”

Regardless of Showtime strolling away from the negotiating desk, Blake wasn’t completely prepared to go away Logan Paul within the mud. Uncertain of the hidden gem he had at his disposal, Blake figured that his subsequent greatest transfer could be to get nearer to Paul. But, even after discussing issues with him additional, it wasn’t till Blake acquired what he initially believed to be an harmless telephone name from his two daughters, that really made the sunshine bulb flicker on.

“I invited him to my recording studio in Vegas,” mentioned Blake. “I posted an image of me and him on my Instagram web page and my daughters referred to as me. My daughters on the time had been six years outdated they usually had been like I’m with such and such. So when my daughters advised me who he was, I checked out my boy who manages him proper now and I mentioned, this child should be actually fucking massive if my children, who’re solely six years outdated, are calling me about this mom fucker that’s within the studio with me. So with that being mentioned, I knew one thing was there however Logan knew one thing was there earlier than anyone. He knew this shit was going to work.”

From there, every part started falling into place for Paul. He would go on to face fellow YouTube star KSI on DAZN and generate main buzz for his or her showdown. With that, what first started as a whacky and extraneous concept, rapidly was the multi-million greenback gravy practice that it’s in the present day.

“It labored they usually (Showtime) noticed that it labored. They noticed that it labored they usually noticed that it was going to generate the cash. Now, this was simply him doing it with simply one other YouTuber. They weren’t on the lookout for one other boxer on the time. They had been simply on the lookout for one other one who had the identical sort of following that they’d however from one other nation. They put the 2 collectively and it was a blockbuster. They did some great numbers and that was his leverage to buy this to different networks and platforms to showcase the expertise.”

In totality, Logan Paul vs KSI generated 1.3 million pay-per-view buys worldwide, proving his star energy. With Mayweather routinely producing hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of pay-per-view buys in his personal proper, it made monetary sense for each side to come back collectively.

Though each Logan and his brother Jake, have basically ushered in a brand new period of social media stars coming into the boxing world, purists discover their inclusion to be each a sham to the game and their presence inconsequential.

Nonetheless, within the thoughts of Blake, instances have merely modified. Whereas there’ll all the time be room for extra conventional boxing occasions, the insertion of YouTube megastars merely isn’t going wherever.

“The wave is simply totally different now,” defined Blake. “Who’re we to inform any individual how they’re able to go on the market and feed their households? There’s going to be one thing greater than this. One factor results in the following.”