YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul travelled the world and spent $5,275,000 to pick up the rarest Pokemon card in existence.
The social media star, who has boxed three times including an exhibition bout with Floyd Mayweather, spent months in negotiations to make the purchase and to land himself in the Guinness Book of World Records. He travelled from California to London, Italy and Dubai to pick up the only 'Pikachu Illustrator' card in the world that is graded as a 10/10 perfect condition.
Paul sealed the deal just days before his WWE debut in April, where he teamed with The Miz to face Rey Mysterio and his son Dominick in a tag team match. And moments after his match at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, he was presented with a plaque to certify his massive purchase was the biggest in Pokemon card collecting history.
The card was a special promotional prize for competition entrants in the late 1990s in Japan, and there were only 39 ever in existence. Atsuko Nishida drew a special version of the famed cartoon character Pikachu, and it is believed that there could be as few as 20 left in circulation.
What made Paul's purchase so special was that it was graded 10/10 by the Professional Sports Authenticator or PSA, making it the only one in existence to achieve this ranking. And with rumours swirling that the seller, who chose to remain anonymous, wanted to keep a low profile, there were minimal records that the card even existed.
Paul was hit with a massive $6m valuation on the card by the seller. However, they also said they would make a concession down to $4m if he could also score a 9/10-ranked card, of which there are eight in existence, and include that in the trade.
The YouTube star went from London to Italy in order to secure a $1.3m 9-graded card, before making the deal happen in Dubai. The seller refused to be filmed, but he had a representative present for Paul's documentary, which has been viewed over 800,000 times in 15 hours.
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Paul wore the rare card to the ring as part of his Pikachu-inspired ring walk gear for WrestleMania, with fans noting the massive price he must have paid. He won the scripted bout before being informed the deal had broken records by a Guinness official.
"I wasn't convinced that you existed," Paul told the seller of the rare card. "People were like 'yeah the Pikachu Illustrator is the most expensive card, there's some 9s out there,' and then there were rumours that there was one ten."
The Guinness adjudicator explained: "I can tell you that the most expensive Pokemon trading card sold in a private sale is a PSA Grade 10 Pikachu Illustrator card for $5,275,000 on July 22 2021, you are officially a new Guinness World Record holder."
Paul is currently weighing up his options with regards to a boxing return, although it appears to be on hold after he officially signed with WWE. He inked a massive money deal to appear at a number of events over the coming months, and it remains to be seen if he will box again in the near future.
