Involving internet stars Olajide “KSI” Olatunji, Logan Paul, Tommy Fury and Dillon Danis, it’s an event that’s widely viewed as the most highly-anticipated bill ever involving non-traditional boxing stars.
Each member of the quartet boasts a huge social media following and has used their personalities and profiles to market the event – dubbed “The Prime Card” – after both KSI and Paul’s eponymously named energy drink. Staged in Manchester, England, on Saturday, KSI will face Fury, while Paul fights Danis.
Boxing involving non-traditional fighters has come a long way since it began to gain traction as a form of entertainment. Three out of the four fighters on the card have made their names in other areas or sports, with only Fury learning the sport from a young age.
From KSI beating Joe Weller in 2018 in London in the first official fight between two YouTubers to the behemoth it has become, the fights are now professional, aired by global broadcasters, and have sucked in all manner of global stars, from Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Anderson Silva.
But the build-up to Saturday’s fight has been overshadowed by a lawsuit filed by Paul’s fiancée against Danis for a slew of images the 30-year-old has posted on social media.
In the months leading up to the fight, Danis has posted a number of images on his X – formerly known as Twitter – account including photos of Paul’s fiancée, Nina Agdal, some of which appear to have been digitally altered, often in an attempt to criticize the model’s past relationships.
In September, Agdal filed a lawsuit against Danis for “revenge porn,” saying that his posts have caused the Danish model to “suffer humiliation, emotional distress, and reputational harm.”
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Danis engaged in a “relentless, ongoing campaign of cyber harassment and bullying” directed towards Agdal.
The lawsuit alleges that Danis used his social media to “‘promote’ the fight and ramp up his feud with Paul.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Danis posted “hundreds of posts containing vulgar and disparaging pictures, memes and comments about her.”
“All the while, Danis has been rewarded for that same conduct through an increased social media following and publicity that has resulted in his offensive posts being viewed more than two billion times to date.”
Agdal requested and received a temporary restraining order directing Danis to stop posting “sexually explicit photographs” of her “on the internet without her consent,” and in her complaint, she also alleges that he posted a sexually explicit photograph which was never meant to be shared publicly or was “obtained without consent.”
Subsequently, a judge granted Agdal the restraining order against Danis, saying he was forbidden from posting “sexually explicit photographs” of Agdal without her permission.
In the ruling, the court noted that Danis failed to appear for a hearing on the matter and dodged attempts to deliver the court servings.
It hasn’t stopped Danis continuing to post inflammatory pictures involving Agdal on social media, including even in the week ahead of the fight. And that has only sought to rachet up the animosity between the two men.
In their face off a month before the fight, Paul called Danis “pathetic” and “vile” for his barrage of tweets aimed at Agdal.
When former MMA fighter Brendan Schaub said that it upset him to see Danis being sued as it went against the “first rule of fight club,” Paul posted a passionate defense of his fiancée.
“It bums me out that 3 weeks ago I DM’d you Nina’s lawsuit details because of your ignorance & your response was ‘Oh Jesus. Did not know that. Not cool,’” Paul wrote in response to Schaub.
“Then you come on here talking about fight club rules like you’re the referee. This twisted ‘promotion’ has gone FAR beyond the fight game & you know that.
“Plus I’m not the one suing him. He picked a fight with an innocent woman who is standing up for herself the only way she can: by holding a predator legally accountable for breaking the law — any person who doesn’t understand that is a delusional tw*t. The lawsuit is HER choice, and I fully support her.”
Misfits Boxing, the event’s organizer, declined to comment on the lawsuit when asked by CNN. CNN has also reached out to Danis for comment.
Agdal’s lawyers referred CNN to Paul’s PR team, which is acting on behalf of Agdal, when asked for comment. Agdal has not publicly commented on the matter, but CNN understands she is intent on holding Danis accountable.
Danis has referred to the lawsuit on his X account and on October 7 said he’d “rather be a keyboard warrior than a lawsuit warrior.”
“I didn’t sign up for a sue-off, I signed up for a boxing match. F**k this nonsense,” he wrote in September.
He wrote a few days later: “Logan doesn’t want me to fight, which is why he’s resorting to the law. He can’t handle the truth or accept that I exposed Nina for who she is. A real man would want to handle it in the ring. Using lawsuits to flex doesn’t make you tough; it just shows how much of a p***y you are.”
Misfits Boxing told CNN that general sale of the tickets for the event sold out within an hour, with whole night being sold out in a week.
The organization added that 80% of tickets were sold between £40 to £150 ($49.20 to $184.90), with the remaining tickets priced between £300 and £750 ($431.25 and $924.10), with VIP packages available for £2,000 ($2,464.20).