“Let’s get ready to rumble!” Grab your popcorn because a match is about to go down as Floyd Mayweather confirmed going head to head with YouTuber Deji at Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena on Sunday, November 13. The former five-division boxing champ will headline the Global Titans event for the exhibition boxing match against YouTube personality and gamer Deji Olatunji.
Deji, known online as Comedy Shorts Gamer, is a YouTube personality star that paved his way to stardom through his comedic content, reactions, and skits. He is the younger brother of boxer KSI and no stranger to the world of vlogging as his variety of gaming videos, funny reaction jokes and well-built online reputation for being a boxing influencer draws more than 10.7 million subscribers to his account.
Coco-Cola Arena has announced the news in an Instagram post calling all fight night fans to buy their tickets as the match will go on sale from Wednesday, September 28.
Although no introduction is needed for the all-time boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, we cannot help but wonder why a YouTuber would want to go up against one of boxing history’s greatest?
Floyd Mayweather returns to Dubai for Global Titans’ social media frenzy fight against YouTuber Deji
In a released statement the YouTube star stated; “It’s a privilege to be headlining this phenomenal spectacle in Dubai, against the all-time great Floyd Mayweather.” Which will be one of his biggest boxing matches yet.
Filled with excitement Floyd Mayweather also released a statement to announce his return to the UAE; “I am delighted to bring this incredible boxing experience to Dubai,” Mayweather said in an official release. “Global Titans will give fans an unrivaled boxing match with a huge undercard. It is an honor to be part of such an iconic event in an iconic city,” he added.
Mayweather’s return to Dubai marks his second time in the region in six months, and his third overall exhibition match of 2022 – the boxer previously fought in the UAE in May against Don Moore. But why is someone like Mayweather accepting so many exhibition fights if he can’t add a title to his long list of wins? Well, like all G.O.A.T. he has the luxury to pick and choose and win on his own time and terms to demonstrate over and over again to his fans his true sporting talents.
It’s important to notice boxing has taken on another life of its own as the sport deviated from its traditional fighting (mainly in the boxing ring) days. Nowadays boxing has a pre-fight which starts online on social media platforms between two highly followed boxers through insults to evoke reactions and play psychological games before setting foot into the ring.
Often times this has created social media frenzies as fans participate in the online drama and demand the fight to go physical to see who gets the last say. Insults and “trash talk” before a fight were never unusual as players try to get underneath the skin of one another during press conferences before matches. But anticipating matches before they are even scheduled or in the talks are!
As a result, modern ways of trash talks and insults online are oftentimes erupted out of the blue when a boxer has an opinion on someone else without even having a set match date. A new form for highly followed athlete influencers to pick their own fights and see the potential it has, before any money is invested, in terms of revenue and public susceptibility due to the high anticipation created around it.
This leads us to think; is this a new way for boxers to make more money than traditional matches by fighting anyone with a large enough following to have as many pay-per-views as possible? Or is this the new form of match marketing? Either way, the noise Deji and both Floyd Mayweather are creating online is resulting in massive media exposure for both of them as athletes and social media influencers.
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below and tell us who you think would win this match.
Sales for the tickets will be available on Wednesday, September 28.
Prices TBA. Sunday November 13, Coca-Cola Arena, City Walk, coca-cola-arena.com.
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