admin Most Valuable Promotions’ head of boxing Mike Leanardi, on Paul’s behalf, vigorously disputed this account, telling GQ that a KSI-Jake Paul fight was never fully agreed, that they hope to set up a Paul-Fury rematch next year, and called Taylor’s recent public statements about Paul “derogatory” and “fictional.”
Instead, KSI will next fight Tommy Fury at Misfits’ Prime Card event on October 14th, which will also see Logan Paul return to the ring for his first professional bout since 2019.
Fury could be KSI’s last fight. He’s got other stuff in his life—Prime, music, a property empire—and is too smart to risk having those smarts beaten out of him. That means building Misfits into something bigger than KSI.
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There are several more Misfits events in the works for this year. Salt Papi has become box office, despite his loss, and deserves to top a bill, maybe a homecoming bout next year in the Philippines. Anthony Taylor has proven himself, so will be under consideration for an eventual headline slot.
In July, a few months after my meeting with Taylor and Sauerland, Misfits held its X Series 008 event in Nashville. It proved an interesting test of Misfits’ wider ambitions. There were no huge stars on the bill. Instead, Misfits debuted a format that made even tag team look pedestrian: four-way survivor tag. At Nobu, Taylor had tried to explain the rules to me. One fighter starts in each corner, the audience votes on which two will fight first, then they all go at it for four rounds. Last man standing wins. If it goes the distance, the judges have to somehow work out who scored the most points according to normal boxing rules.
When it happens, the reality is easier to follow: four men, bloodied, try to hurt each other. They may have strategies, but they’re unreadable and, ultimately, immaterial. All that matters is that the audience loves it, in the arena and online, so the format will likely be back.
But, as Taylor tells it, there are bigger things coming. Stuff he won’t talk about, but phew, hold tight, it’s going to be wild. “We’re going to put three fighters in cages and then fan vote will determine which cage opens and they go into the ring,” says Taylor.
The mainstream boxing establishment is still trying to sideline Misfits and the crossover world as a sideshow, even as its numbers explode. So Misfits are going to do a Pro Division. Taylor is going to drive his tanks right onto boxing’s lawn. “When they started picking on us, they woke the arsehole in me,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘All right. Well, now we’re going to fuck with you.’”
This story originally ran on British GQ with the title “Is influencer boxing killing the sport, or saving it?”
