YouTube star Michael Reeves stunned fans with an impressive second round TKO victory over finance influencer Graham Stephan at the Creator Clash last night.
The social media duo competed as part of iDubbbz's charity boxing event that saw internet celebrities from around YouTube, Twitch and TikTok compete in their first fights. Reeves and Stephan were expected to struggle after receiving minimal training, but they ended up putting on a solid fight over their two rounds of action.
It was Reeves who impressed fans with his technical skills, but Stephan who likely got the better of the opening round with heavy-handed shots that seemed to hurt the 24-year-old. Reeves, buoyed by a raucous Florida crowd that were fully behind him throughout, powered through, and showed what he had learned during a brief training camp.
And after a gruelling second round, he found himself on top of the fight, taking control of the exchanges and working Stephan into the corner. It was there that the older YouTuber took a brief second to look to the referee, signalling he didn't want to continue.
She accepted his gesture and opted to step in, handing Reeves a TKO victory in his boxing debut and sending the Yuengling Center's capacity crowd of over 10,000 into an eruption of noise. After the fact, he took time to explain that he wasn't keen on boxing at first, and was looking forward to getting back to his YouTube channel.
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"Ignoring responsibilities, that was tough" he joked in his post-fight interview in the ring. "That's tough but I did it and maybe now I can make YouTube videos, that'll be cool. I was working on one for this, I did one to help me train. It'll come out on Sunday.
"When they announced me [fighting on the event] I was like 'no' in my head, but then I thought back to sixth grade watching iDubbbz and I was like that's too surreal of a moment. I just blurted out yes."
Just two fights on the Creator Clash's nine-bout main card went to the judges, with a series of exciting finishes entertaining a capacity crowd in Tampa. IDubbbz was unsuccessful in his effort against Doctor Mike in the main event, but has insisted he is pleased with the event having promoted it alongside wife Anisa Jomha.
