'Waste of f*cking time' - KSI opens up on 'frustration' of Tommy Fury defeat as YouTuber turned boxer reveals backing from Jake Paul before judges 'f*cked' him

Appearing on Beast Mode On and discussing his transition from internet personality to professional fighter, KSI has described boxing as "arguably one of the scariest, traumatic things a person could do". The Sidemen co-founder, who has balanced chart-topping music success with headline pay-per-view bouts, drew a sharp distinction between the two disciplines, noting that the ring offers no guarantees regardless of the effort invested.

While his music career allows for a direct correlation between hard work and success, boxing presents a crueller reality. "With boxing, you know, you could put all your effort into one, you know, training. You could work so, so hard, literally almost kill yourself every week, get to a fight and it not work out," KSI explained.

He admitted that the disconnect between preparation and result is a bitter pill to swallow. The frustration of dedicating months to a camp only to fall short is a psychological hurdle that "takes a while" to comprehend. For the 32-year-old, there is no debate about which pursuit demands more: "I'd say boxing hands down was definitely the hardest thing."

Beyond the bright lights of fight night, KSI opened up about the gruelling nature of his training camps. He painted a vivid picture of the resilience required to step into the gym week after week, knowing that physical punishment awaits. "You have to be mentally strong to go into camp every week training your ass off. You have to go in there, find the toughest people every goddamn week. And you're getting your head bashed in every week," he said.

The process is a rollercoaster of emotions, oscillating between the highs of a breakthrough sparring session and the crushing lows of being dominated. "Sometimes you have bad days where this isn't working. I'm just getting beat up. It sucks. It hurts. I'm not enjoying this," he confessed.

Despite the pain, the YouTuber emphasised the necessity of pushing through the suffering. The reward, usually, is the euphoria of victory, where the months of "head bashing" are validated. "You're like, 'Yeah, I put all this hard work and I got what I wanted. I got what I deserved.'" However, when that validation is stripped away, the fallout is explosive.

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The starkest example of this frustration came following his loss to Tommy Fury in October 2023. KSI suffered a defeat by majority decision - later corrected to unanimous decision - in a bout he remains convinced he won. Reflecting on the immediate aftermath, he described the result as a "waste of f*cking time," revealing the raw anger that led him to lash out in the dressing room.

"That's why I kicked the board after the Fury fight, because there was so much frustration after that because I was there like, 'these f*cking judges have f*cked me'," he recalled.

In a twist that adds fuel to the fire of the Misfits Boxing narrative, KSI claimed that even his bitter rival Jake Paul initially believed the decision was a robbery. "It's like to the point where I even had Jake Paul already, you know, trying to make an excuse for me winning because he thought I'd won," KSI said. However, the support was short-lived. "Then he deleted the tweet after he saw that I had lost... like f*ck, like that was just there like, 'Are you f*cking serious?'"

Despite the lingering controversy surrounding the scorecard in Manchester, KSI insists he has made peace with the result. The intense bitterness that defined the immediate post-fight period has subsided, replaced by a pragmatic acceptance of the sport's unpredictability. "I'm kind of... I'm just over it now. It is what it is. You can't win them all," he conceded, noting that he simply has to "keep it moving."

However, he couldn't resist a final jab at his conqueror. While Fury took the decision on the night, KSI believes the long-term victory belongs to him. Comparing their respective trajectories since that night in the ring, the YouTuber is confident about who is currently on top. "I compare my career to Tommy's and I'd say I'm still winning," he concluded, signalling that while the 'L' remains on his record, his commercial and cultural dominance remains undefeated.