What drives a boxer to fight? For some, it's the love of the sport or a drive for competition. Others? The fame or simply the financial necessity to get in the ring.
Over the last few years, a new breed of boxers have stepped between the ropes in search of something else as part of the growing YouTube boxing trend. Young men and women with followings eclipsing world champions and skill levels that can be as low as your average white-collar fighter are now competing on pay-per-view and major broadcasters in front of major audiences.
To boxing purists, it's not a good look. Farcical mismatches based on an inability to know the difference in skill between two competitors with almost no history in the sport have angered many. Meanwhile, personalities like Jake Paul who attempt to cross over into the professional ranks have proven divisive.
But at its core, there are many fighters in this new space who are doing it for all the same reasons that any 'traditional boxer' does. Take 42-year-old Nathan Barnatt, who competes as his popular YouTube character 'Dad'. An actor in Los Angeles who has had a respectable working career and brushes with mainstream fame, he's built up a following of hundreds of thousands across his social media.
He went viral last year for his 22-second knockout at the inaugural Creator Clash over comedian Matt Watson. The pair had trained with proper coaches, dedicated themselves to the craft for months and stepped in the ring for their respective debuts on the undercard of a show filled with beginners.
"I've been on YouTube since it started in 2005 and things are starting to happen now, 18 years later," Barnatt says, reflecting on a career online. "I'm very, very happy. I owe Anisa and IDubbbz so much, this has changed my life. The reason I think that things are doing so well is because last year when we started this I was thinking 'I've been around longer than everyone on the card and have the least views'.
"All of these young people didn't even know who I am, I needed to reinvent myself. The Dad character gave me a second resurgence but the Creator Clash audience didn't know me. I decided that I had to go so hard, do a big entrance, I got John Morrisson my friend from WWE, my 6'7" friend Bob was in the background, I needed to do a big presentation.
"I came out with this huge energy because I was thinking 'I need this so bad' so that people would go 'this guy is awesome, I like him'. I couldn't just walk out and do what everyone else was going to do. I also had to put that into my training where I had to train like a psycho because I wanted to kill Matt. I wanted to wipe him out and do what happened so that people would know me.
"I felt like I had to go harder than everyone else, because even if they lose they're going to go back to their 10million subscribers. I don't have that, I never had that. I've done YouTube longer than everybody and I don't even have half a million on any of my channels. So I'm like 'I've got to change my life', so that's what I'm doing again this year, going 'psycho mode'."
That it happened in front of over 10,000 live viewers at Florida's Yuengling Center and 120,000 pay-per-view buyers is a symptom of their fame, and the only factor differentiating the event from your average white collar show. "I will admit there was zero competition," Barnatt jokes.
He was initially approached to compete by promoters Ian 'IDubbbz' Jomha and his wife Anisa, who were putting together a different kind of YouTube boxing event where all proceeds went to charity. He agreed to fight for only expenses, and proceeded towards a gruelling camp for his debut bout.
This year, he returns a much bigger name, but still fighting for limited payment while he builds up his skills and exposure before going for a money fight on a different promotion. His ultimate goal is not all that different from a traditional boxer; buy a house, build some financial comfort and make a name for himself.
"The main reason I would do the fights after Creator Clash is that I don't have a lot of money," Barnatt admits. "I've never had a lot of money. I would like to finally some day have a lot of money and buy a house. Even if I had a couple hundred thousand dollars that would be life-changing.
"If I could get one or two big cheques, I don't know what these guys are getting paid outside of the big names who get paid like a quarter-million dollars. I don't think of that for me, I'm more in the $50,000 range, if I got very lucky and make my name bigger I'd make $100,000 in case someone like Salt Papi kills me, then it's all over and I need to get paid for it.
"The main goal is to earn some money and go buy a house somewhere, but that's a big goal. This is for charity with Creator Clash, which I'm totally on board with, it's awesome, it's fun and my expenses are covered but I don't earn anything in the end just publicity and doing this for a good cause.
"Then hopefully I get on something like Misfits where I can make money, even though I'll always go back to Creator Clash because I feel it's where I belong. It's my crowd, I love the people, the fighters, everyone involved and I hope to be involved in some way until it's over in some way even if I'm fighting or not. But outside of that, I would like to do some fights that could help me buy a house."
Does Barnatt's story really differ all that much from a traditional boxer's? A man who entered a gym to prepare for a fight in the hopes of one day changing his life. That's not to say that all of the influencers stepping in the ring have the same passion; in fact, it's quite the opposite.
His opponent last year, Watson, is part of a very famous YouTube channel called SuperMega that is thriving regardless of he and his partner Ryan Magee's losses on last year's event. This time around, he faces AB Ayad, a staff member on the wildly popular H3 Podcast who gave a thrilling account of himself at last year's event against Hundar, whom he dropped in the third before the bout was ultimately stopped in four.
Are you excited to see 'Dad' return to the boxing ring? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
But Barnatt is adamant that he will prevail, noting that he needs a victory in order to move his career forward and push towards achieving his goals in entertainment. "The main thing that I have is I want it more than anyone," he adds. "Everyone is going to say that, but I don't think they do. You're not an old man like me that literally is struggling to pay his rent at times.
"I'm trying to hustle, scramble do so many things so I really generally need this, otherwise I can't live here. I have to upload my videos with bruises on my face every night, I just don't think they're in the same situation as me... Everyone works hard and deserves their success, but based on my conversations with everyone they're not physically doing the same things that I'm doing with the same necessity that I am."
He's been putting in the work at his gym, Conquest Boxing in Portland and believes that he has the cardio necessary to compete at a high level in the sport. Barnatt's plan is to compete twice or three times a year, once on the annual Creator Clash and twice on a Misfits or Kingpyn type of promotion that will pay him enough to put down a deposit on a home.
"I can go non-stop punching, rapid punching on the bag or in sparring, with no breaks, no stopping for a second, for 15 minutes straight, no breaks," he explains. "That's what me and my coach work on. We do these really intense drills where I'm hitting the bag, sparring, getting hit and throwing for 15 minutes non-stop so that I can definitely make it for two minutes with a 60 second break.
"I have psychotic cardio, I will say. Originally I thought that was just what everyone has to do, because I generally just have to go extreme. But then I realised 'oh nobody does this'... I could punch for the whole round with no breaks, but that opens you up if you're constantly throwing, you have to take a moment."
And he will give back to the sport as well, with plans to open a gym alongside another YouTuber and his boxing trainers. "My coach and I and Arin [Hanson, from YouTube group Game Grumps] are planning on opening a boxing gym of our own," Barnatt says. "I'm very into the boxing world now, we want to have our own gym the three of us where you can train with us and we'll be there regularly."
