Celebrity boxing is not a new phenomenon. Recently though, it has seemed as if events that would once have been considered playful celebrity exhibitions are crossing into the realm of actual professional boxing. And for the most part, this is thanks to the popularity of “YouTuber” sensations Jake and Logan Paul.
To the Paul brothers’ credit, they know what they’re doing in the ring. These guys are good athletes who have spent some time training and learning how to box, with the result that they’re leaps and bounds better than the average amateur — and certainly the average celebrity. The only problem is that because of this they appear to fancy themselves pro-caliber boxers, with the result that their bouts are now treated very much like professional events.
To date, we’ve seen Logan Paul fight (and lose) against fellow YouTuber KSI in a bout that actually qualified as a professional match. And we’ve seen Jake Paul defeat former NBA player Nate Robinson in a match that was taken absurdly seriously by sports and entertainment media. And now, the Paul brothers’ foray into pro boxing is being ramped up another notch. As we previewed in a recent “Boxing Predictions” post, Logan Paul is now due to fight none other than Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
To reiterate, this is completely ridiculous. Logan Paul may be talented and capable for an amateur, but putting him against arguably the greatest boxer of all time (from a numbers perspective) can only be called a gimmick.
It’s as if we’d waited a few years after Michael Jordan’s retirement, found a decent player on a playground somewhere, and pitted them against each other one-on-one. Many in the boxing world have already criticized the idea as a ludicrous promotion and money-grab; it was even reported on ScreenRant that Logan’s brother Jake sees the event as “bad for boxing.”
As much as we may agree with that sentiment though, it’s also becoming clear that this blurring of the lines between celebrity and professional boxing is probably here to stay, at least for a while. Love it or hate it, the Paul-Mayweather bout is probably going to be a huge pay-per-view event. Undoubtedly the same can be said of the recently announced Mike Tyson fight against Lennox Lewis (which at this point is basically a celebrity exhibition too).
As long as these bizarre crossover events keep making money, they’re going to keep happening. And that means it’s almost inevitable that we’ll see other celebrities try to follow the Paul brothers’ example, land themselves in the ring, and rake in several million dollars at a time.
Because of this, we gave some thought to who might be next….
Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart is a man of many talents, and a man who has found no shortage of ways to monetize those talents. He is an actor and comedian first, and is in the midst of a lucrative career on these fronts.
But Hart has also signed a professional record deal with Motown Records (under the name Chocolate Droppa), and has spent a little bit of time modeling. Additionally, Poker.org’s look at the wealthiest poker players earlier this year, suggested that Hart is a borderline pro poker player who’s made some money both through game winnings and PokerStars deals.
The guy just finds his way to earnings, and it won’t be a surprise at all if he next does so through boxing. Hart is known to be a good athlete, and has even boxed publicly against fellow poker player Antonio Esfandiari (though Hart lost this bout).
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand is actually a professional athlete — or at least was one. Now 42 years old, he spent 20 years playing professional soccer in the English league (and appeared 81 times for the English national team as well).
While not quite the Renaissance man Hart is, Ferdinand has dabbled in various television and film projects over the years, both when he was an active player and since his retirement in 2015. And now, he works primarily as a commentator for BT Sport.
Back in 2017 though, Ferdinand actually attempted to join the ranks of professional boxing in England, seeking official qualification through the British Boxing Board of Control. That attempt failed, but if we are on the cusp of a new era of celebrity boxing, there’s certainly nothing stopping him from trying again (particularly here in the U.S.).
Justin Bieber
Yes, seriously. As easy as it is to discount Bieber as just another pop star, the bottom line is he’s a very talented guy.
He’s considered to be a good drummer even by music-industry standards; he’s commanded some respect in celebrity basketball events; and at the end of the day his wild success in music is probably due as much to his intuition as a businessman and promoter as his voice and image.
So maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bieber is also — apparently — a pretty good boxer.
The pop star is known to be an avid fan of the sport, and has actually trained with Floyd Mayweather in the past. The two subsequently had a bizarre public feud, but recently a Heroic Hollywood report on Bieber and Mayweather suggested that the boxer is now open to promoting an MMA fight between Bieber and… Tom Cruise, for some reason.
That’s all a bit dizzying, but suffice it to say Bieber takes his boxing seriously, and could very much get in on the trend.
Michael B. Jordan
Last but not least, there’s Creed himself: Michael B. Jordan. He’s always had the look of a terrific athlete for an actor, and has accordingly starred in numerous sports-related roles over the years.
When he trained for Creed though he truly turned himself into a beast, and reportedly took the actual boxing instruction very seriously. As the story goes, Jordan even insisted on taking a real knockout punch to make the film’s action scenes as realistic as possible.
Whether or not he’d be inclined to appear in a pro boxing debate is anyone’s guess. He’s in the prime of a big-time Hollywood career and thus probably unlikely to take any risks of this sort.
In fact, it may even be that assorted agents, managers, and studios would forbid it. Nevertheless, Jordan seems as capable of attempting to box at a high level as any celebrity we might think of.
Overall, in case it wasn’t clear, this is not a trend we’re in favor of. But if it’s going to happen, it is interesting to consider who might be next. Ultimately we have no way of predicting this with any certainty, but these are definitely a few of the celebrity possibilities that make some sense.
