YouTube star siblings Logan and Jake Paul can now make a convincing case for recognition as the two top boxing attractions in the world. Their athletic backgrounds might seem modest at first glance — Logan, 26, placed fifth in the 2013 Ohio high school wrestling championships, and Jake, 24, has a 3-0 record as a pro boxer against poor competition — but their recent pay-per-view numbers belie their inexperience. The brothers have already main-evented three of the 40 highest-grossing PPVs of all time, in the process developing a blueprint for other unlikely stars to seize control of their platforms and set the terms of their athletic engagements.
Last month, Logan Paul’s eight-round boxing exhibition against undefeated boxing great Floyd Mayweather generated 1 million pay-per-view buys, while Jake Paul’s April 2021 knockout defeat of out-of-shape Olympic wrestling and MMA veteran Ben Askren roped in 1.3 million. Prior to that, Logan Paul’s August 2018 PPV exhibition against fellow YouTuber KSI earned 1.3 million buys.
Though rival promoters such as UFC President Dana White have disputed the accuracy of these numbers, the Pauls claim to have netted a combined $100 million in 2021 for 10 rounds of lackluster boxing action spread across their two events. White has reason for concern, since only a handful of the hundreds of PPVs he has promoted have cleared 1 million buys. Nor did the billion-dollar wrestling company WWE, which operated on a PPV model for two decades before transitioning to a subscription-based network now hosted on Peacock, ever stage a PPV that exceeded the buy rates posted by the events with Askren or KSI.
“This phenomenon isn’t analogous to a TV network putting together a slapdash Celebrity Boxing show and using it as ballast or filler for their prime-time lineup,” business analyst Ben Labe said. “The Paul brothers are known for corny antics, pranks, and so forth, but their command of YouTube is impressive, and both the Floyd Mayweather and Ben Askren events were built up slowly, across multiple posts, viral videos, and carefully staged pseudo-events like press conferences.”
Labe contends that these PPVs, far from being one-off novelties or frivolous impulse buys, represent a sophisticated form of social media marketing, saying, “The actual content produced by the Pauls, whether it was their Vine videos or the Suicide Forest controversy or whatever, might be puerile, but it engages its audience. Its production values are layered into multiple platforms that passively host the content, in exchange for a cut of revenue in the case of YouTube, but the Pauls control the direction of the narrative.”
Control of the narrative, bodybuilding champion Kai Greene explained, allows the content creators to manage and engage their own fan bases. “When I very carefully cultivated my on-camera rivalry with [then-reigning Mr. Olympia] Phil Heath into a storyline that could sustain an entire documentary, I was doing what Arnold Schwarzenegger did when he reworked [1977 documentary] Pumping Iron into a film that emphasized his exaggerated-for-effect competition with Lou Ferrigno,” Greene said. “Without a story like that, Schwarzenegger wouldn’t have had the career he went on to have, because he showed people he could act and tell a story. You have to make these stories happen, because without them, there’s no compelling reason for people to follow a sport like bodybuilding.”
But even athletes who perform individually, such as pro wrestlers, boxers, bodybuilders, mixed martial artists, and others, have had to depend on companies, federations, or sanctioning bodies to provide them with some kind of governing or publicity infrastructure. Without the International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness awarding the Mr. Olympia title, neither Greene nor Schwarzenegger would have had stories to tell.
“A pro wrestler is classified as an independent contractor, but nearly every pro wrestler who has ever wrestled depends on a company — a wrestling promotion, like the WWE or, in my case, World Class in Dallas — to give them the stage on which to tell their story,” explained retired wrestler “Cowboy” Johnny Mantell. “You could sometimes get to where you could promote your own events, or maybe even become a full-time promoter if you had the financial resources, but that has always been the framework.”
It is this traditional framework that the Pauls have offered a blueprint for upending, Labe said. “For these one-on-one engagements, fights, and wrestling cards, you don’t necessarily need the WWE or UFC or even a boxing promoter like Oscar De La Hoya or Bob Arum to organize and stage them, because a few of the performers have the clout to call their own shots,” Labe said. “Yes, it is incredibly hard to unionize all the disorganized independent contractors in wrestling, boxing, and mixed martial arts, but the Pauls have shown it could be incredibly easy for a few superstars with truly big brands to step out of those organizations and become a multinational business unto themselves.”
For example, Jon Jones, arguably the greatest fighter in the history of the UFC, has wavered on returning to the promotion because he wants to be paid more than $10 million for his next main event. But White has pushed back against that demand, as the company rarely pays veterans more than $200,000 to $300,000 even for the highest-profile bouts.
“The solution to this dilemma is simple: have Jon Jones fight Jake Paul,” said Labe. “Considering that Jake and Ben Askren did 1.3 million buys, and Askren showed up for the fight with a muffin top and significantly reduced mobility after hip replacement surgery … imagine what Jones could make for an easy night out, against a man he outweighs by 50 pounds or so.”
In other words, the Pauls have done far more than making a quick buck off freak-show celebrity fighting. Instead, they have shown how total command of one’s own brand platform can empower the sort of entrepreneurial projects that will leave hidebound sports federations and television networks in the dust. If millions of people can be convinced via viral Instagram and YouTube posts to pay $69.99 to watch small-statured boxer Manny Pacquiao battle with strongman and Game of Thrones star Hafthor “The Mountain” Bjornsson, no force on heaven or earth will stop the invisible hand from delivering that PPV knockout.
Oliver Bateman is a journalist, historian, and co-host of the What’s Left? podcast. Visit his website: www.oliverbateman.com.
