KSI has defended his decision to fight debutant and friend Swarmz after coming under criticism from fans.
The British YouTuber - real name JJ Olatunji - was set to face Alex Wassabi in his first appearance in the boxing ring for over two years at London's O2 arena on August 27. However Wassabi has been forced to withdraw from the bout after suffering an undisclosed "serious" injury which left him without a replacement opponent.
KSI's bitter rival Jake Paul offered to step in and fight for free in the UK, which KSI promptly rejected before announcing he will instead face musician Swarmz, real name Brandon Scott. He has now since leapt to his own defence on social media, tweeting: "Just wanna say that at the end of the day, the one of the main goals of this first fight was to get rid of ring rust.
"I wanted to prove to myself that I’m a better boxer than I’ve portrayed in the past. If you wanna see, fine. If not, fine. I’m still doing it anyway. There are still many good fights on this card that I’m excited to see. We are the only YouTube boxing event happening this summer. We’ve had many things try to disrupt this event but still we stand. This is a long term play, and I’ll happily take a small L now for a big W later."
KSI was plotting to avenge his brother Deji's defeat to Wassabi this summer in his first fight since defeating Paul's brother Logan in their rematch back in 2019. However despite breaking his own nose, it was Wassabi who pulled out of the clash with KSI left to find an opponent to ensure the fight card went ahead.
He will now face rapper Swarmz who has never boxed before and will be making his debut at the near sold-out event this month. KSI previously released a hit single Houdini with the musician who featured on the song, and it triggered a spell of successful released music for the YouTube star.
What do you make of KSI's new fight with Swarmz? Let us know in the comments section below
It is understood the pair have had a personal rivalry since releasing the track with KSI unhappy with his former features conduct when failing to attend events to promote the song. Paul, meanwhile, was unhappy with KSI's rejection of his offer to make a late-replacement appearance on the card which would likely attract huge interest in the future.
He mocked KSI on social media after the news broke, saying: "This is absolutely absurd, what KSI just did there, he is fighting one of his friends. Talk about getting paid to take a dive; he is fighting a rapper who is his friend, the've made songs together, who has never fought before.
"The dude has a t-shirt on in the fight poster, they don't even have a picture of this guy shirtless, what the f*** is going on? This event should be free, even KSI's fans are saying what is going on, they want to sell their tickets to the event."
