YouTube star KSI has reignited his feud with Jake Paul after confirming his boxing return, and had 80,000 fans chanting a crude message to his rival at Wembley over the weekend.
The Watford native was performing at the Capital FM Summertime Ball in front of a packed house at the national stadium when he got the audience to chant along to "f*** Jake Paul ". There's no love lost between the social media duo, although they haven't been able to settle their feud in the ring as yet,.
The moment was reminiscent of Conor McGregor's infamous press conferences in the lead-up to his fight with Floyd Mayweather. During a four-stop tour to push their fight, the Irishman got crowds of thousands in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York and London to roar abuse at the boxing legend ahead of their meeting.
Both McGregor and KSI would wear the underdog tag, with the UFC legend ultimately getting stopped by Mayweather in round 10. Paul is considered the far superior boxer of the two, and KSI is plotting two tune-up fights this year before making a real push to fight the American in 2023.
The pair's rivalry started in early 2018 when, after defeating Joe Weller in his white collar boxing debut, the Brit called out both Jake and his brother Logan Paul. He ultimately faced the elder sibling that August, while Jake went on to face his younger brother Deji.
KSI and Logan fought to a majority draw in Manchester before turning professional for their rematch in Los Angeles the following year. The rapper won that fight with a close split decision and after Jake defeated his pal AnEsonGib two months later, it appeared that DAZN were prepared to make the fight.
But when the coronavirus pandemic shut down all professional sports, KSI pivoted back to his music career, releasing two chart-topping albums and a host of top 10 singles. He is now one of the most in-demand recording artists in the UK, and has had to put his boxing interests on the back-burner for the past two-and-a-half years.
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That has all changed in recent months, however, as the musician has knuckled down in training at London Shootfighters gym and got back in boxing shape. He will face another influencer, believed to be Alex Wassabi, on August 27 in his ring return, just three weeks after Paul fights.
On the other hand, Paul has gone on to establish himself as one of the more interesting prospects in the sport of boxing. He made quick work of KSI's brother Deji and his friend Gib before viciously knocking out Nate Robinson on Mike Tyson's comeback undercard.
From there, he has been taking on MMA world champions, knocking out first the ex-Bellator and ONE FC welterweight champion Ben Askren and then winning two fights with former UFC title holder Tyron Woodley, the second of which was a vicious stoppage.
