Influencer boxing is taking the sport by storm – but it’s also creating serious safety concerns.
It consists of popular YouTubers and internet personalities fighting each other in the boxing ring.
But thanks to their cult following, some of them – like Jake Paul, Logan Paul and KSI – have become the most recognisable names in the sport today, and some of their payouts are said to be into the millions.
One of the biggest combat sports pay-per-view fights in 2023 came from an influencer boxing event held in Manchester, Sky News has learned.
Image: The event, named the Prime Card, was dubbed the ‘Super Bowl of Influencer Boxing’. Pic: Misfits Boxing
The show reportedly had over a million sales and was put together by the world’s most popular promotion company, Misfits Boxing.
Their first event in August 2022 drew nearly two million viewers on the DAZN Boxing streaming network, with 90% of them being new subscribers.
Kalle Sauerland, president of Misfits Boxing, as well as an established promoter in traditional boxing, sees influencer boxing as “the ultimate version of changing the sport for the better”.
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‘Kids love that online beef’
Influencer boxing thrives on gimmicky characters with razzmatazz and zing – and its supporters say it offers a type of entertainment that traditional boxing doesn’t.
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Scenes such as those seen at a press conference last year – with tables, mics, bottles and cake being thrown into the air by John Fury, Logan Paul and Dillon Danis – can go viral, resulting in millions of clicks for companies like Misfits Boxing.
Image: Some influencers are commonly restrained by security to avoid clashes before the fight. Pic: Misfits Boxing
Mr Sauerland said: “It’s a different type of entertainment. You’re not watching it because you’re going to see a jab like Muhammed Ali’s. You’re not going to see the feet of Muhammed Ali either. But you are going to get great entertainment.
“You’ve got storylines, you’ve got what the kids love that online beef, and I think that’s the secret of the success.”
The fairly new phenomenon rose from humble beginnings in 2018 with all fights taking place under amateur regulation – the event required every fighter to wear headguards and 16oz gloves.
Image: The first influencer boxing event saw YouTubers KSI and Joe Weller fight for charity. Pic: KSI / YouTube
However, as interest has grown, the scene has evolved from its original form and matched the professional game with the removal of head guards and the adoption of 10oz gloves. These changes were first introduced in 2019 and have since been in place.
The transition to professional rules has also been a contributing factor to more stoppages and knockout victories, which are a celebrated part of the sport and often used for publicity.
Image: Knockout victories are common in the influencer scene. Pic: Misfits Boxing
For a dangerous sport with the basic intent to produce bodily harm by specifically targeting the head, it raises questions on whether it’s even a space for novices to dabble in.
While it’s not legally required for companies to hire governing bodies to sanction their professional boxing events, given the number of health and safety protocols needed, it is advised to.
‘Somebody will die’
The British Boxing Board of Control, the only government-recognised authority for professional boxing in the UK, has been seeking to separate itself from the influencer boxing scene, since its inception.
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Concerns over the rise of influencer boxing
Robert Smith, the board’s general secretary, told Sky News: “I am concerned. I don’t agree with influencer boxing, and the main reason being is some of the standards you see are very, very poor.
“And therefore, I’m fairly confident that a lot of people who take part in that, if they applied for a license with us, would not get one.”
He added: “Boxing is dangerous. Somebody can, will possibly die in the future. And obviously the trouble with that then is it’s not just influencer boxing, it’s boxing.”
Image: Robert Smith, of the British Boxing Board of Control, says some standards ‘are very, very poor’
Just earlier this month, professional boxer Kazuki Anaguchi, 23, died from a brain injury that he sustained from his last fight in December 2023.
There haven’t been any serious injuries in influencer boxing thus far, however, on several occasions, influencers have violated the rules of boxing – in the form of illegal knockouts and failed drug tests.
Those actions have led to disqualifications and suspensions by the Professional Boxing Association (PBA), which has been in charge of regulating most influencer bouts.
Image: Reality TV star Chase DeMoor received a suspension for continuing to punch his opponent after a knockout. Pic DAZN
Last year, the PBA withdrew from working with promotion company Kingpyn Boxing, due to safety concerns.
Sky News approached Kingpyn Boxing for comment, but it did not respond.
Last month, the PBA also parted ways with Misfits Boxing, though confirming that it has “always held high standards when it comes to boxer safety”.
Misfits Boxing has told Sky News it recognises the concerns and takes boxer safety “to the highest possible professional standard”.
‘It’s a disaster waiting to happen’
Former European champion Spencer Oliver almost lost his life in the ring after a right hook gave him a life-threatening blood clot in the brain and ended his fighting career.
Image: Former boxer Spencer Oliver was put into an induced coma for two weeks after suffering a blood clot
He also helped to organise the very first influencer boxing event in 2018, but the current state of what he started makes him feel “guilty” and fear that “someone is going to get injured in the ring like I did back in 1998”.
Mr Oliver told Sky News: “With the influencer boxing and where it’s heading now, you’ve got guys and girls coming out with no experience at all, they’re not conditioned at all, they’re going in there, and some of them are too one-sided, way way too one-sided.
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
He added: “My message to the promoters that are involved in these matchups is make sure you get the matchmaking right because, at what cost? And it’s on your head if you don’t.
“It will leave a stain on boxing; God forbid something happens to one of them.”
The threat of physical attacks by Iran on people living in the UK has increased “significantly” since 2022, according to a new report by parliament’s intelligence watchdog.
Iran poses a “wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat” to the UK, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee.
It also said Iran’s intelligence services were “willing and able – often through third party agents – to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK”.
Image: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pic: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters
The report said there have been 15 murder or kidnap attempts against British citizens or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022 and August 2023.
Sky News has approached the Iranian embassy for a comment.
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The report authors add: “Whilst Iran’s activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and crucially – unpredictable.”
The committee also says that while the threat is often focused on dissidents and other opponents to the regime, there is also an increased threat to Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK.
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The report warns that while Iran has not developed a nuclear weapon, it has taken steps towards that goal.
It found that Iran had been “broadly compliant” with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed at limiting its nuclear ambitions.
But since Donald Trump withdrew from that deal in 2018, the report said the nuclear threat had increased and Tehran “had the capability to arm in a relatively short period”.
The UK government is also accused of “fire-fighting” rather than developing a real understanding of Iran.
Image: Iran’s president oversees a parade in Tehran in April showing off the country’s military hardware. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters
Image: Missiles are paraded through the capital during the recent National Army Day ceremony. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters
The report says: “The government’s policy on Iran has suffered from a focus on crisis management, driven by concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, to the exclusion of other issues.
“As one of our expert witnesses told the committee: ‘Strategy is not a word that I think has crossed the lips of policy makers for a while, certainly not in relation to Iran’.”
The committee concluded its evidence-taking in August 2023, the result of two years of work, but the report authors say their conclusions “remain relevant”.
But the report authors questioned whether UK sanctions against individuals would “in practice deliver behavioural change. Or in fact unhelpfully push Iran towards China”.
The committee also said the British government should consider proscribing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), although some argue it would limit the UK’s ability to talk to and influence Iran.
Responding to the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “The government will take action wherever necessary to protect national security, which is a foundation of our plan for change.
“We have already placed Iran on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme and introduced further sanctions against individuals and entities linked to Iran, bringing the total number of sanctions to 450.”
British security services say Tehran uses criminal proxies to carry out its work in Britain.
In December, two Romanians were charged after a journalist working for a Persian language media organisation in London was stabbed in the leg. In May, three Iranian men appeared in court charged with assisting Iran’s foreign intelligence service and plotting violence against journalists.
Earlier this year, the UK government said it would require the Iranian state to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK, because of what it called increasingly aggressive activity.
The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.
“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.
“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”
Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.
The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.
“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.
“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”
Image: Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue
Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.
He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.
He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.
We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.
Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.
This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.
Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’sretail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.
Image: Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News
She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.
“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.
“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”
There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.
Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.
But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.
For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.
There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.
As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.
We see the boat from a distance – the orange of the life jackets reflected in the rising sun.
And as we draw closer, we can make out dozens of people crowded on board as it sets off from the shore, from a beach near Dunkirk.
There is no sign of any police activity on the shore, and there are no police vessels in the water.
Instead, the migrants crammed into an inflatable dinghy are being watched by us, on board a private boat, and the looming figure of the Minck, a French search and rescue ship that soon arrives.
Image: Minck, a French search and rescue ship, shadows the boat
The dinghy meanders. It’s not heading towards Britain but rather hugging the coast.
A few of the passengers wave at us cheerfully, but then the boat starts to head back towards the shore.
Image: Sky’s Adam Parsons at the scene
As it nears a different beach, we see a police vehicle – a dune buggy – heading down to meet it.
Normal practice is for French police officers to slice through the material of any of these small boats that end up back on shore.
Two police officers get out of the buggy and wait. A police helicopter arrives and circles above, performing a tight circle over the heads of the migrants.
The police think they might be about to go back on to the beach; in fact, these passengers know that most of them are staying put.
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The boat stops a short distance from the shore and four people jump out. As they wade towards the beach, the boat turns and starts to head back out to sea.
We see the two police officers approach these four men and have a brief conversation.
They don’t appear to check the bags they are carrying and, if they do question them about why they left the boat, it is the most cursory of conversations.
In reality, these people probably don’t speak French but they were almost certainly involved in arranging this crossing, which is against the law. But all four walk away, disappearing into the dunes at the back of the beach.