Andy Warhol’s once-cryptic statement of “in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes” was made in 1968. Since then, this prediction has caused seismic shifts in such fields as music, drama, comedy, and even the news, with charismatic individuals bypassing traditional avenues of success and taking their product directly to the masses, which make or break them with an all-powerful click of the ‘like’ icon.

The argument can be made that these established fields richly deserve their fate. The entertainment industry, after all, is rife with patronage and staggering corruption which it has never tried to disguise. The mainstream media, for its part, seems more obsessed with narratives than it is in the five w’s and the how. Therefore (it can be said) these people made their beds and must now lie in them. They have arrogantly held their audiences captive – and in contempt – for too long.

However, musicians, actors, comedians, and even news agencies notwithstanding, is it acceptable for athletes to also become famous for nothing more than a large social media presence. Is that even possible? Apparently, the answer is… maybe.

When We Were Kings
The acclaimed 1996 sports documentary’s title speaks volumes. While no other sport has ever dominated the human psyche more than boxing, the intensity of that domination is matched only by its fall from grace. Indeed, its decline has become cliché, even as it still towers above all other sports in terms of compelling purity. As ESPN analyst Max Kellerman has astutely pointed out “the literal imposition of will is more compelling than a metaphor for the same thing.” So therefore, everyone wants to be a king, even if it’s just for one day.

Enter Logan Paul and KSI
On November 9th, 2019, sports streaming giant DAZN, which replaced HBO as the main provider for professional boxing worldwide when the latter dropped the sport from its platform just over a year earlier, streamed the rematch between two men who were not accomplished boxers in any way.

Logan Paul is an American YouTuber and self-proclaimed actor, director, and entertainer, whose combined social media presence totals 66.1 million. Paul claims to be a former state wrestler and is clearly very fit, but his skill level as a boxer barely ranks him as a novice at best. For his part, KSI (real name Olajide Olatunji) is a British YouTuber with a following of nearly 30 million, whose boldest claim to fame seems to be that of a rapper. Like his American counterpart, KSI definitely spends a lot of time in the gym, but has little in the way of actual boxing skill.

Nevertheless, 12,000 people attended the match at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, where true boxers Billy Joe Saunders and Devin Haney fought their respective bouts on the undercard. The fight was shown on DAZN’s pay-per-view service and later its YouTube channel. The latter recorded 24 million views, while powerful British promoter Eddie Hearn has claimed that the former garnered more PPV buys than the dramatic upset KO victory of Andy Ruiz Jr. over recognized heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

So What?
Exactly. The silence was deafening. No other sport is lonelier, more thankless, and more demanding than boxing. To add insult to injury, its few remaining stars must now compete with those whose only talent is sheer charisma, and whose devotion does not exceed the superficial. Some have argued that the sport has been exposed to new audiences. Very few, however, have tried to defend the brutal integrity of boxing, claiming that this event literally spits in the face of true warriors, and would never be tolerated elsewhere. Does anyone really believe that if someone organized a weekend-warrior football or basketball league on YouTube to compete with the NFL and NBA respectively, that no one would come to the defense of those sports? So what indeed.