KSI and Logan Paul may not be the most obvious people to be taking part in the biggest boxing fight of the year.
But Saturday, the YouTube influencers will do just that when they touch gloves at the Manchester Arena.
Having called out his American rival earlier this year following his victory over Joe Weller in London, KSI was granted his wish when Paul accepted the challenge via his YouTube channel.
Since then the pair have embarked on campaigns to hype the fight and of course to insult each other in the process.
But what is the story behind the man who calls himself KSI?
Early life
KSI’s real name is Olajide William Olatunji and he was born in Watford, Hertfordshire on June 19, 1993.
The initials of his nickname stand for Knowledge Strength Integrity, words he has tattooed on his body.
As a teenager, he decided that his future would not be best served by staying at school but rather by recording entertaining videos for social media.
KSI has a younger brother Deji who is also fighting on Saturday, against Paul’s brother Jake, and who is also a YouTube personality.
Their parents Jide and Yinka Olatunji have featured in KSI’s videos.
Social media career
He created a YouTube channel which went on to attract millions of subscribers as he initially concentrated on creating videos of himself playing the popular console game FIFA.
This helped him to grow his following but in 2011 KSI decided to diversify and began to use his social media following to release rap tracks, including ‘Heskey Time’ – the music video for which has been viewed more than eight million times.
KSI has admitted that the first “three or four” years of his YouTube career were hard.
He said: “A lot of people think YouTube is quite easy, when it just isn’t.
“I’ve been doing YouTube for six years now, and I’d say the hardest years were definitely the first three or four.
“You have to constantly put out content that is good just to make people come back to your channel, and I work every single day just to try and expand my brand.”
KSI now has almost 20 million subscribers on YouTube.
Net worth
In 2015, Forbes valued KSI’s net worth at $4.5million (£3.5m) but this is likely to have increased since then. YouTube do not disclose how much their users earn from views but KSI has also released records and a clothes line to supplement his social media earnings.
Relationships
KSI was dating Seana Cuthbert for two years from 2012 before the couple broke up.
Ms. Cuthbert said recently: “We were very young, only 17 and lived miles apart.
“He was also really busy with YouTube and did not have enough time for a relationship.
“We were quite young and he just wanted to go out and enjoy himself – like every lad does. I’ve moved on and so has he now.”
Seana, who is 23, has 136,000 followers on Twitter and her own YouTube channel has 153,000 subscribers but is not regularly updated.
Last year, KSI was dating a girl called Lois Sharpe but he was determined to keep her out of the public eye, only releasing a video of her in October while they were in Mauritius. The couple broke up the following month.
House
KSI lives in the Sideman House with three fellow social media personalities. The luxury mansion’s location has not been disclosed for security reasons but is set on a large private estate and has 24-hour security.
The pad boasts six en-suite bedrooms, a pool, cinema and gym along with a beauty salon. KSI’s bedroom can also be accessed via a lift.
KSI’s three housemates are miniminter (Simon Edward Minter), Zerkaa (Joshua Bradley), and Vikkstar123 (Vikram Barn) and the four of them used to live together – along with three others – in the original Sideman House.
Boxing career
KSI fought for the first time when he took on Weller in February, selling out the Copper Box in London’s Olympic Park. The fight was watched by 21 million people on YouTube as KSI stopped his opponent in the third round.
By triumphing, KSI was awarded the You Tube Boxing Championship belt which he will put on the line against Paul on Saturday.
The pair are expected to have a rematch on February 4, 2019 in the United States.
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