We asked YouTube star, doctor and budding boxer Dr. Mike what he thinks about the upcoming KSI vs. FaZe Temperrr fight and the current state of the boxing scene of influencers.
Dr. Mike may be a healer, but he prescribes these hands to anyone who wants to go into the ring with him… and he doesn’t think KSI wants to smoke.
KSI, a British rapper, YouTuber and white-collar boxer, will fight the influential person FaZe Temperrr on July 14 in the Misfits x DAZN Series 004 event, which is broadcast exclusively on the combat sports platform.
This match was the last shake-up for the event, in which a few days ago mixed martial arts fighter Dillon Denis was supposed to take part as an opponent of KSI. Denis abruptly pulled out of the match just a week before the fight, but fans are still excited to see the two influencers fight in the ring anyway.
Here's how to watch #KSITemper on January 14 on https://t.co/FoiaUucafv & DAZN PPV 👊
Click the link for full details 👇 pic.twitter.com/0y1c1XT10G
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 6, 2023
However, Dr. Mike is not too thrilled with KSI’s latest choice. In fact, he believes the influencer is deliberately targeting weaker opponents, and would instead prefer the YouTuber to fight Slim Albacher, the creator who defeated Temperrr on the undercard of KSI’s last fight back in August 2022.
In addition, at the end of last year, KSI named Dr. Mike as a possible opponent, but the good doctor is not sure that the Briton will cope with this task.
“I have little faith that a fight will ever happen between us, as it seems that KSI and his team like to pick up easier opponents,” he said. “I’m not knocking him out for this, as he wisely protects his mind, body and brand. If he was interested in a challenge, given his considerable experience, I would like him to fight Slim, not the guy Slim knocked out. I hope that his next fight will be against Jake Paul, and that no one will back down at the last minute, because it’s getting tiring.”
In the boxing of influential people, from time to time there is a shuffle of the composition — whether it is due to injuries at the last minute, conflicts in the schedule or problems with weight gain before the evening of the fight. In 2022, KSI’s match against American YouTuber Alex Wassabi was switched to his unexpected “two fights, one night” event after Wassabi suffered a debilitating head injury during sparring and was unable to compete due to health risks.
Jake Paul had a similar experience, as his fight with Tommy Fury was canceled when the British boxer could not come to the United States due to travel difficulties. Then he chose Hasim Rahman Jr. as his opponent, but Rahman could not gain weight in time, which eventually led to the fact that the entire event was closed, which cost Jake “millions” of dollars.
Dr. Mike called influential boxing a “positive” for martial arts.
At the same time, Dr. Mike believes that influential boxing has a positive (or at least neutral) impact on the sport itself. Mike notably fought at the main event of Creator Clash 2022 against iDubbbz — an event that caused a huge positive response from fans.
“It’s a slightly positive or purely neutral influence on the sport,” Dr. Mike said of the influential boxing scene. “Some events for influencers respected the art of boxing, such as Creator Clash, while others, such as Showstar, left a black eye on boxing influencers (pun intended). I would like matchmakers to take their work more seriously, as they will definitely create a match that will endanger someone’s life due to inconsistency.”
Dr. Mike talks about the fight between Jake Paul and Anderson Silva.
Another important trend happening in the field of influential boxing is that leading creators are facing GOATS of combat sports, such as Logan Paul vs. Mayweather in 2020 and Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva in 2022. he believes that such match-ups can make sense if they are performed with the right “purpose”.
“I agree that influencers fight with “goats”, but fights should have a purpose,” he reflected. “Deji vs. Mayweather never made sense, because the gap in skills was ridiculous. At this stage, I would never risk going into the ring with Mayweather, because I know that I have no chance, and I’m arranging a festive evening of the main event (just like Deji’s fight). “
Dr. Mike: “No one in the sphere of influencers takes on such challenges”
Dr. Mike has experience supporting his claims. The certified doctor has been boxing to stay fit for ten years, and held his first official matches in 2022 against YouTuber iDubbbz and professional boxer Chris Avila. He also trained alongside professional fighter Amanda Serrano, in addition to many years spent in taekwondo in his youth.
“My fight against Chris Avila was by far the most difficult test,” he said of his current fighting career. “Not only did I have to go down to a record-low weight of 182 pounds, but I entered the ring with someone who has more than 20 fights, currently has a streak of 5 or 6 wins (including at the last event of Jake Paul) and is younger than me.”
“No one in the sphere of influence takes on such challenges. Even when KSI fights with a “professional” like Pineda, this person he knows is guaranteed to be a joke for the opponent.”
Although Mike eventually lost his fight to Avila, his fight against iDubbbz earlier that year was a huge success and he stated that he was ready to accept more fights in the future as the world of influential boxing continues to evolve.
At the moment, however, he believes that the success of the scene depends on the efforts of influencers, professional fighters and brands to make it as possible and as professional as possible.
“Right now, the long-term success of the influential boxing world is hanging in the air. If we continue to see low-quality tournaments with bad matches, the appetite for sports will decrease, so I hope that both brands and fighters will invest more. “
Dr. Mike is ready to take on the challenge
In general, Dr. Mike is aware of how exhausting boxing can be for influencers, and despite the fact that a lot of influencers are entering the ring this year, he is almost sure that no one does it the way he does (except Jake Paul, of course).
“Nothing is more important in boxing than experience, and I’m not just talking about experience in the ring,” he explained. “Training, injuries, weight loss, distractions, drama—it all takes its toll and you get a lot more comfortable every time you’re exposed to the whole combat experience.”
Also, both [my] the battles were epic in scale for various reasons. Creator Clash was the main event in front of a 10,000-person arena. The most recent of them was a real professional duel in a PPV show against someone with significantly more combat experience. Except maybe Jake Paul, no one has ever taken on a challenge of this level in the fight against influencers.”
