The recent trend of social media influencers like Jake Paul participating in boxing matches as a way to drum up clout, interest, and profit has reached its inevitable conclusion in a Florida boxing event that made a huge splash in some circles and barely registered in others. We’re talking about Social Gloves: Battle of the Platforms.
What was it? Well, two famous social media influencers—one who came up on YouTube (Austin McBroom) and one who gained his fame on TikTok (Bryce Hall)—took their personal beef to the boxing ring in order to see who will come up victorious. This comes after McBroom accused Hall of being “too scared to fight” last December.
This particular match points to two trends happening recently in pop culture. One is the rise of TikTok and its own group of influencers—who are as disparaged by their detractors as they are loved by their fans for the same choreographed dances and paparazzi-ed outings—that can be seen as a threat to YouTubers, a more “established” influencer group.
Then there’s the convergence of social media influencer beef and live broadcast boxing matches which began with the Logan Paul vs. KSI fights in 2018 and is continuing to this day.
Will any real beef get squashed and a particular social media platform come out victorious as a result of the match? Probably not. But it’s pretty likely you’ll be able to see more of these types of boxing matches in the future.
