YouTube star KSI has admitted he was "close" to signing to fight retired footballer Rio Ferdinand after his fights with Logan Paul.
KSI - real name JJ Olatunji - has launched a YouTube boxing career since his first amateur bout came against fellow content creator Joe Weller. He turned professional when facing Logan Paul in a high-profile rematch which he won before taking a hiatus from the ring to focus on his content creation and music.
Olatunji will return on August 27 against novice rapper Swarmz at London's O2 arena after previous planned opponent Alex Wassabi withdrew. However it will not be the first time the British star called out a celebrity, revealing that he and Ferdinand were set to fight but a deal never materialised.
"You know it was very close to being Rio, not for the first against Joe Weller but it might have been after both Logan Paul fights," Olatunji revealed in his latest YouTube video for his second channel. "Me and Rio Ferdinand were actually going to fight and then obviously Rio just wasn't on it."
Olatunji had challenged Ferdinand after initially drawing with fellow YouTuber Paul in a white-collar boxing fight back in 2018, which saw a huge rise in YouTubers competing in the sport. He told The Metro previously: "Well, if Deji doesn’t get it wrong, I’ll make sure that I fight Jake [Paul] next. If he wants to fight, but he probably won’t want to fight. I guess Rio Ferdinand would also be a good shout.
"I know he wants to go pro, that’ll be really cool and if not, then I’ll probably go pro." Ferdinand had a stellar career in football captaining both Man United and England during the height of his playing days, and is considered one of the Premier League's all-time greatest defenders.
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Ferdinand had announced he had switched sports and was planning to launch a career in boxing in partnership with bookmaker Betfair. However he later immediately 'retired' from training without taking a single fight, before instead becoming a mainstay pundit for BT Sport on their Champions League and domestic coverage.
Olatunji then indeed turned professional himself by beating Paul in a huge second meeting before spending two years away from training. He will now make a return to the ring for the first time since that day in a bid to relaunch his journey to a mega-fight with Logan's brother Jake.
The pair have already verbally agreed to a fight on social media, after Paul accepted Olatunji's offer to stage the fight at Wembley Stadium in 2023. He tweeted: "I'm going to send you a contract. We fight next year. Wembley Stadium. Winner of the fight takes all. 100 per cent of the purse will be on the line. Put your money where your mouth is and let’s finally end this. Will you accept Jake Paul?"
