YouTube star Deji is planning to take his experience from facing Floyd Mayweather in November into his future career in the influencer boxing world.
That's according to his coach Daley Perales, who has taken him from three straight defeats to becoming one of YouTube's most impressive boxers over the past eight months. His most recent win, a brutal knockout victory over Yusef 'Fousey' Erakat, saw him earn praise across the scene, and ultimately put him in a position to face Mayweather on November 13.
And after he has stepped in the ring with Mayweather, the Watford native will continue facing social media stars, as opposed to moving on to professional fighters. Perales, himself a former boxer, believes that the experience of facing one of the greatest of all time will stand to Deji as he moves on to further challenges in the influencer world.
"Floyd Mayweather is one of my idols," Perales told Mirror Fighting. " I've watched him ever since I've done boxing, I come from a family of boxers so I've grown up on Floyd. I just told Deji to go in there and have fun. It's an exhibition, so no records are on the line, so use this as an opportunity to gain some valuable experience.
"Not everyone gets to share the ring with one of the greatest of all time so just go in there and enjoy it, because you've got nothing to lose. This is going to benefit Deji in the long-term when he gets in the ring with another YouTuber; he's going to be looking at them like they're nothing - he will have shared the ring with one of the greats.
"I said to Deji [when they started working together], I'm going to train you exactly how I train my pro fighters so when you go in there you look like a real fighter. He did that against Fousey and then after that we were just waiting on the next date for a YouTube event and he sprung that on me, Floyd Mayweather!"
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Deji has got a number of big name opponents ready to face him once his Dubai excursion is over, including the likes of Bryce Hall or a rematch with Alex Wassabi, who handed him his last loss. The team are keen to get him back in with more social media stars once he has faced Mayweather, but they will first concentrate fully on the task at hand in November.
"There's no pressure on Deji," Perales insists. "He's got nothing to lose and this is going to help him when he steps back in the ring, probably early next year, with another YouTuber. It's Floyd Mayweather, man, but he did look like he was slowing down on Saturday night.
"He didn't look like the old Floyd. I know you can't stay young forever, but when the guy [Mikuru Asakura: Mayweather's opponent in his last exhibition] did let his hands hands go, you could see Floyd was very uncomfortable with someone who let their hands go. I think the fact that he put pressure of him and let his hands go, Floyd was thinking 'wait a minute'. He doesn't want to let that happen to him, so he decided to put it on him and get him out of there."
