YouTube star Austin McBroom will put his boxing future on the line at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles against AnEsonGib on July 30.
Once a college basketball standout, McBroom left his athletic dreams behind as a youngster to pursue social media fame. And having now amassed over 18.9million followers, he looks to get back into the sporting world by forging a boxing career against other influencers.
He brutalised Tik Tok star Bryce Hall in the main event of last year's Social Gloves showcase in Miami, and takes the show back to his home of California to face British YouTuber 'Gib' this time around. On that same card, the Saudi Arabian-born influencer circumvented a travel ban to get to America for his fight, and defeated Tayler Holder in the co-feature.
Now, after a year of tense negotiations that saw the fight made and cancelled at the eleventh hour on numerous occasions, a deal has been struck to bring these two fighters together. Gib will be competing for the fifth time, having gone 3-1 thus far including a defeat to Jake Paul in his professional debut.
Here's all you need to know about the main event for Social Gloves 2...
Austin McBroom
At one stage, McBroom appeared to have his sights set on the NBA after playing as a point guard in NCAA basketball in college. But at just 5'9" and 165lb, he would have needed to be a super-athlete to make a living playing professionally.
Instead, he and wife Catherine decided to pursue fame on social media, where their YouTube channel The ACE Family has accrued nearly 20million followers. McBroom drew controversy over the debut of Social Gloves, where a number of fighters and broadcasters accused him of being behind their lack of payment.
The event drew a solid number of pay-per-view buys by white collar boxing standards, but not close to the two million that had been projected, and many were left out of pocket. Later influencer boxing events Creator Clash and Showstar Boxing both drew less, but had spent within their means and were considered box office successes.
But he has stayed training and with the controversy seemingly behind him, McBroom has vowed to showcase his skills against Gib. He is being eyed as a possible KSI opponent in future, and a big win over the Brit would set him well on his way.
The fight is being held under professional rules, where the pair will wear 10oz gloves and no headgear. Technically even though he defeated Hall, McBroom's record is 0-0-0.
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AnEsonGib
YouTube star AnEsonGib has all but quit social media in order to become laser-focused on his boxing career. When Joe Weller and KSI put together a white collar fight night, Gib was a chubby streamer, but he endeavoured to lose weight after challenging his teammate MaxPlaysFIFA.
Gib enlisted the services of amateur boxing standout Viddal Riley, now a top professional prospect, to teach him some skills and get him in shape for the event. And after losing a massive amount of weight, he dominated his boxing debut landing a quick stoppage.
He brought his relentless work ethic into the undercard of KSI vs Logan Paul for his next outing the following August, taking on Jay Swingler in a YouTube boxing classic. The bout went the distance, but Gib won comfortably, which set him on his way to an unthinkable Miami match-up with Jake Paul.
The chasm in followings between Paul and Gib ultimately proved to be similar to the gap in boxing ability, as the American put him away within a round of his professional debut. He struggled to keep his weight down when coronavirus lockdowns began just weeks after his loss in America.
But when a match-up with Holder fell into his lap, Gib got into the shape of his life, and dominated the TikTok star over six rounds to get back in the win column. He now faces another massive challenge, and expects to make mega-money for the occasion.
Even though he has won three times in exhibition bouts, Gib's official professional record is 0-1.
