YouTube star Deji is under "no pressure" as he prepares to face Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition bout on Saturday night in Dubai, according to his coach Daley Perales.
The social media influencer has put his career online to one side as he prepares to face arguably the greatest boxer of all time over eight rounds in a bout which won't be scored, but has still attracted significant attention. For his part, Deji has stayed quiet in the build-up, opting to stick to short answers with the media in Dubai and during trips to Las Vegas and London.
But his coach Perales insists that there is nothing to faze his fighter as he prepares for just fifth fight ever, and his first since recording his sole win back in August against Yusef 'Fousey' Erakat. The Brit began coaching Deji ahead of his bout with Alex Wassabi back in March, but had time to get a proper camp in for the Fousey bout.
"Obviously Floyd Mayweather is one of my idols," Perales told Mirror Fighting in an exclusive chat. "I've been in boxing my whole life, I'm from a family of boxers. So growing up on Floyd, it was normal to me, so I just told Deji to go in there have fun and know that it's an exhibition so no records are on the line.
"Your boxing record isn't on the line so I've told him to go in there and enjoy it - not everyone gets to step in there with one of the best of all time and he's got nothing to lose. This is going to be good for Deji in the long term when he gets in the ring with another YouTuber.
"He'll step in there with some other YouTuber and he'll be looking at them like they're nothing because he's shared the ring with one of the greats... I train Deji exactly like my pro fighters so that when he gets in there he'll look like a real fighter and he did that against Fousey."
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And Perales insists that there is no pressure on the Brit as he heads into the exhibition, which has drawn massive interest in social media circles as well as amongst boxing fans. Many are critical of Mayweather, a legend with hundreds of fights as a multiple-weight world champion professional and Olympic-level amateur, facing another novice, but there is also curiosity about how it will play out.
"Look, there's no pressure at all on Deji," Perales continued. "He's got nothing to lose and this is going to help him long-term when he steps back in the ring probably early next year against a YouTuber. It's Floyd Mayweather, man, but even though his last exhibition only lasted a few rounds, it did look like he was slowing down.
"He didn't look like the old Floyd. Now, you can't stay young forever, but when the guy [MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura] you could see Floyd was very uncomfortable with that. The fact that someone like that guy put pressure on him and let his hands go Floyd was like 'wait a minute, I can't let this happen to me, let me put it on him,' and that's why he got him out of there."
