Influencer Fights Won’t Fade Soon: Here’s How to Deal with it as a Boxing Fan

Those who paid £20 or so to watch the Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury match will likely have mixed feelings about the way it played out. It was a truly atrocious showcase of boxing – especially in the coveted PPV circles – but in the end, the one who trained as and fought boxers clearly won.

Most importantly for the two ‘influencers’ involved, though, it was a huge money-making event. As there isn’t a refund button on PPV live sports events, Paul will get around £7 million, and Fury will come away with nearly £5 million. Fury may continue as a proper boxer, but the likes of Paul, KSI, and others won’t go away soon.

Unfortunately, followers of real boxing often find themselves drawn into these exhibition mix-ups, either by friends who think it’s real boxing or almost as a form of self-deprecating, seeing the money for the talent involved. As more of this is inevitable, here are some fun ways to help cope with and even enjoy future farcical showings.

A bit of boxing bingo

Bingo’s always been a cheeky game, with its numbered ball puns and alternative names making the lotto game good fun. To apply it to boxing, you’ll first want to pick what kind of bingo you’d like to play. As there are many forms of online bingo, spanning different sheets and jackpot prizes, it’s worth having a look around first.

Most will be familiar with the layout and scoring of 75-ball bingo, though. Here, you have a five-by-five sheet and look for lines and even a full house. For the next big fight between people with large social media followings, take the five-by-five sheet and add in some things that you reckon are going to happen.

It’s good to mix in some event-obvious and boxing-centric picks. For example, dot around points deductions, knockdowns, poor footwork, and a knockout (if you dare). Then, elements that have become so common, like ridiculous ring walk costumes, mid-match goading, clearly paid-off endorsements from real boxers, and governing body presidents over-praising the event – or ‘Doing a Sulaimán.’

Have everyone be the judges

Paul/Fury scorecard...

75-74 Paul
76-73 Fury
76-73 Fury

Tommy Fury wins. Someone finally takes out Jake Paul. Thank God.

— Bobby Belt (@BobbyBeltTX) February 26, 2023

Judging a boxing fight is tough work if the scores on the Paul vs Fury fight are anything to go by. So, why not get everyone a sheet to do their own scoring and then see who comes out with the most ‘accurate’ score per the judges at the arena.

First, of course, you’ll need to know the complex scoring methods. In the scoring guide, it says that you use a ten-point scale, with round winners usually given ten points to their opponent’s nine. They can be lowered to 10-8 rounds, though, through point deductions, dominance, and knockdowns. A 10-10 round is also possible if both fight exceptionally well and it’s very tough to rule a winner. Actually, it’s not really that difficult, but it can be fun.

Go big on the snacks

Regardless of the sports event, even if it turns out to be bad, you can still nail the snacks to appease everyone in the room. Of course, there are many classics that you can go for here. The best of the big match recipes include meatball marinara fires, mini sausage rolls, sliders, Jamaican patties, tacos, pulled pork, and tomato bruschetta, but you could craft more tongue-in-cheek snacks drawn from whatever obvious scam product one of them is promoting.

The wave of influencer events taking paycheques that most boxers dream of getting doesn’t have to be all bad if you can have some fun with the clearly lacklustre bouts.