For someone who is far better known for his YouTube hits than those landed in the squared circle, Logan Paul sure is confident in his abilities ahead of his much anticipated (?) rematch with fellow YouTuber - and now fellow professional boxer - KSI.
Check out Logan Paul flooring an opponent in sparring with a straight right hand:That's right: KSI vs Logan Paul II, the rematch of an incredibly popular amateur scrap between the two internet personalities, has been professionally sanctioned. The six round contest will form the main event of a packed card with fighters of true professional pedigree such as Brit Billy Joe Saunders and exciting young American Devin Haney showcasing their talents at STAPLES Center, Los Angeles on November 10.
Paul and KSI will fight professionally for the first time in the bout, with no headguards and using 10oz gloves, and promoter Eddie Hearn reckons that this all but guarantees a knockout come fight night. "With no headguards, I have to be honest with you, someone is getting knocked out in LA on November 9," he told a vociferous crowd at last night's press conference in London.
The partisan audience of thousands at a chaotic press conference - the size and scale of which is unprecedented outside of world title fights - roared their approval of KSI's promise to "finish" Paul, while booing the American every time he spoke.
KSI told Paul;
“On the night, all your boxing ability is going to go out of the window.
“My biggest strength is my strength. You cannot knock me out.”
The undercard will feature one of the most exciting young boxers in the world, Devin Haney, who torched the previously undefeated Zaur Abdullaev in his last bout on September 13. Abdullaev had been considered a potential banana skin for Haney (23-0, 15 KO), and represented a step up in class from his previous fights, but the young American dispatched his opponent in emphatic style.
Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn has suggested that WBO Super Middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders' bout could be shown on Sky Sports Main Event, though the exact structure of the evening is as yet not totally clear.
As for Logan Paul, he already seems to have his sights set on the future, and a move to the UFC, after the upcoming KSI bout. Speaking at the London press conference, he is reported as saying;
"I will have progressed too much to ever fight another celebrity or YouTuber after this. I am sparring professional fighters and I am beating them badly, that does so much for my confidence.
"I relied on my athleticism to carry me through the first fight and it almost worked; but now I am a boxer, I am literally a professional fighter and I feel like it. I would honestly love to fight in the UFC; I want [president] Dana White to put me in the Octagon."
Indeed, Paul has previously called out UFC star Conor McGregor, claiming that he'd be prepared to fight the Irishman in the octagon.
Quite how or why this would come about is unclear, but with Conor McGregor's fans desperate for the Crumlin-born fighter to return to the UFC and fight legitimate opponents, it seems incredibly unlikely that such a bout would ever take place.