JOE MARKOWSKI

The full card for the highly-anticipated grudge match between KSI and Dillon Danis has been announced ahead of their showdown at OVO Arena Wembley Jan 14th. The thrilling fights includes a huge co-main bout between Slim vs. Tom Zanetti, as well as a stacked supporting cast consisting of Salt Papi vs. Josh Brueckner, Ryan Taylor vs. Swarmz, Joe Fournier vs. Tony Christodoulou, Faith Ordway vs. Elle Brooke and Anthony Taylor vs. Idris Virgo.

The event will be broadcast in markets around the world on DAZN and on DAZN PPV, in the UK, Ireland, US, Canada , France, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Netherlands & Mexico. Tickets for the fight are available now at misfitsboxing.com.

Full undercard below:

Slim vs. Tom Zanetti

Sulieman “Slim” Albaher is becoming the heavy-hitting dangerman of crossover boxing. From New York, ‘The Hitman’ is gaining notoriety for stoppage wins after a destructive amateur career, followed by his TKO win against Fousey in 2019 and his knockout win over Faze Temperrr at The O2 in London.

From Leeds to Ibiza, Yorkshire’s Tom Zanetti is a global name within dance music, having scored Top Ten hits, accumulated over 20 million streams, and just under 4 million views on YouTube. By taking out a huge knockout artist like Slim, the dynamic DJ may have to put the music on hold as he stakes his claim as a champion within the crossover boxing world.

Salt Papi vs. Josh Brueckner

Salt Papi was raised in England with a Filipino background, and transitioned from seasoning star to boxing prospect as he created videos showing his weight-loss transformation through his love of the sport. In March of 2022 he made his crossover boxing debut as he conquered Halal Ham over three rounds, resulting in a unanimous decision win. He then faced Andy Warski as he produced a highlight-reel knockout in the opening of the first round to steal the limelight from the sold out MF & DAZN: X Series 001 at the sold out O2 in London.

Josh Brueckner is both a social media star as well an MMA fighter, who has developed a big social following for creating fitness videos alongside his wife Katie on their channel Jatie Vlogs. He started out in amateur MMA with an undefeated record of 7-0, before moving to professional MMA. He made his crossover boxing debut on the undercard of KSI vs. Logan Paul II when he beat Tyler Smith via unanimous decision.

Ryan Taylor vs. Swarmz

Ryan Taylor is a World champion BMX rider, YouTube superstar and serial Entrepreneur. Taylor went toe-to-toe with one of crossover boxing’s biggest hitters in Slim, and showed the world his toughness and determination when inside the ring.

After featuring in the MF & DAZN: X SERIES 001 event against KSI, Swarmz is returning to the ring at Wembley, continuing his transition into crossover boxing where either he or Taylor will have the chance to bounce back with a huge win at 004!

Joe Fournier vs. Tony Christodoulou

Joe Fournier holds an undefeated professional boxing record with 9 wins, with 1 no contest. The successful entrepreneur is the former holder of the WBA International Light-Heavyweight title which saw him ranked as high as 11th with the governing body. Having returned to the professional ranks in 2021 after a five-year hiatus, and an 8-round exhibition loss to former World Champion David Haye, he is back to take on former professional MMA fighter Tony Christodoulou.

Christodoulou’s pedigree as a former UFC fighter with 20 professional fights on some of MMA’s grandest stages, and undefeated amateur record, presents Fournier with one of his toughest challenges to date. Christodoulou has had a brief hiatus from the ring that consisted of 13 wins, mirroring Fournier’s break from fighting, to make this a level playing field and an unbelievably exciting match up.

Faith Ordway vs. Elle Brooke

Faith Ordway has made name as a social media celebrity, most notably through TikTok.  With over 4 million followers, the American has turned to the sport of crossover boxing as her new challenge.

Fellow social media star Elle Brooke follows up her successful debut against AJ Bunker in this new year cracker.

Anthony Taylor vs. Idris Virgo

Having stepped away from an MMA career where he was on a five-fight win streak Anthony ‘Pretty Boy’ Taylor is ready to show his opponent, and crossover boxing, he’s here to make further waves after a knockout win against Ashley Rak-Su at MF & DAZN: X Series 002 in Sheffield.

Idris Virgo is an influencer and former contestant on Love Island who is looking to dust off his boxing skills as he aims to build on his previous 13 boxing bouts, with a tremendously impressive record of 12-0-1.

KSI 

Yo, what’s up everyone it’s your boy KSI here, thank you for coming along today. In terms of Dillon Danis not being here I think it’s quite disappointing, disrespectful to me and everyone who has come along expecting him to show up, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. The same thing happened with Alex Wassabi, he obviously flaked, maybe it’s my presence or me in general being such a scary guy? I can understand that, I’m very disciplined and very focused.

If you look at my resumé you see I don’t lose too many times, so that might be seeping in for Dillon. I know he’s undefeated himself but I think looking at me in the eyes when we saw each other in Texas, I could tell it’s a facade and he has to pretend he’s bigger and stronger than he actually is. It shows how little he really is for not being here, how small his mindset really is. He says that I’m not a real fighter but I’m the one who’s always here and always ready, and he claims to be a real fighter but hasn’t made the plane trip to come and see me, not even the zoom call.

He’s petrified of me, and it’s disappointing, but when I do see him in the ring he’ll understand that all the frustration and anger I have for him for disrespecting me will show on January 14. I’m a guy that whenever I want something I will get it no matter what, and this just makes me want to train even harder and do more on top of everything I’m already doing. Extra sprints, extra bag work, extra sparring, and more of anything and everything to emphasise I’m ready for all things. Whether it’s Dillon Danis, or Tommy Fury, or Jake Paul; I am a different beast and I’ll show it with all of these fights that I do.

Kalle Sauerland

When I spoke with his (Dillon’s) manager yesterday who insisted on a video call which he hasn’t appeared on now, do you believe you’re living rent free in his head right now?

KSI

I believe I’m all he thinks about. I believe I’m in his nightmares. I think I’m constantly terrorising and haunting him, and it’s making him slowly break down and feel he’s bitten off too much. He’s said I’m not a fighter, I’m a phony, but when it comes to it is he really ready to get in there with me? Many have tried and failed, and does he really think he’s going to be the guy to succeed? I don’t think so.

Kalle Sauerland

It’s a question I wanted to put to him, but I’ll reverse it for you now. He’s an undefeated MMA fighter so you have to give credit for that, but he’ll be working with striking coaches and boxing coaches. How are you prepared for someone who you can’t really look at and study their past boxing ability?

KSI

With Dillon Danis, we know he’s a Southpaw. We know he’s a fighter who has trained with the likes of Conor McGregor, and at the end of the day all Dillon has done is fight. That’s his job, it’s all he does. Whereas I’m not a fighter, I’m someone who has done YouTube, I’ve done music, I’ve got Prime, I’ve got XIX, Sidemen; I do all these other things and I also box. That’s a thing that makes it so funny that I’m still here with everything else going on and he hasn’t shown up.

We know with Dillon that the area he thinks he’ll be advantageous is in the clinch, where he’ll work away and do certain things to try and throw me. He’ll think he has a better inside game than me, but we’ve been working on plenty of things to make sure I’m working in them moments, the same with the type of style we’ve been working on to improve me. We’ve been working on new techniques, new stances, new angle changes and all these other elements to make sure when I get in the ring I’m an animal. I just want to see the fear in his face, I just want to see it in his eyes, when he crumbles beneath me and really understands that all the hard work I’ve put into this I’m going to unleash onto him.

Dillon, you’re probably training hard or you probably think you can play mind games with me, but my mind is so strong and bulletproof that nothing can penetrate. I am a man who has lived on the internet, I’ve heard the worst of the worst and been through it all publicly, and I’ve had to go through all of that. Nothing you can do will break me, and when I get inside that ring I’m going to break you mentally and physically, and you’ll never be able to say to anyone ever again that you are a fighter. I want the whole world to know that you’re a piece of s*** and you’re getting f***** up.

Kalle Sauerland

Good afternoon everyone, welcome to London, England, for kick-off press conference for the MF & DAZN: X Series 004. I’m joined by our esteemed partners DAZN and CEO of North America, Joe Markowski, as well as the undisputed king of crossover boxing, Mr KSI.

It’s been a wildly entertaining half a year for Misfits Boxing. We’ve smashed records and viewing numbers, going from our major inaugural event with the historic Two Fights, One Night by the man next to me (KSI), then X Series 002 in Sheffield, X Series 003 in Austin, now as promised the blockbuster in January 14 at Wembley arena for X Series 004.

We were expecting to have both fighters here today, but we were informed yesterday that Dillon Danis was unable to travel due to wanting to focus on his training having suffered a bout of influenza, we believe, and focus on the fight that is in just under one month. That being said, we were still hoping he would join us via a video call, I’m sure KSI will have something to say about that.

Looking at the takeover of the crossover boxing world by Misfits Boxing in the last six months we thank our partners at Stake and the incredible Prime hydration. We of course have to thank our exclusive global broadcast partner DAZN, and a big mastermind behind the X Series in Joe Markowski.

Joe Markowski

Thank you for having us here, good to be here with you and JJ. I think three years ago DAZN were foundational in the level of crossover boxing we’re now at, with KSI vs. Logan Paul II, that event wet our appetite hugely for this space. COVID was clearly a disruptive force with that but we’ve always wanted to get back into the space in a really meaningful way. I think that vision was shared by yourself (Kalle Sauerland) and by JJ and by other leaders in this space, and so we’re extremely excited to be delivering events of this scale consistently with the X Series.

It’s one of the most exciting parts of our business globally, it has worldwide interest, and one of the ambitions of myself and our partners is to take this think all over the world. We’re excited about what we can do in 2023 and beyond, but right at the start of the year on January 14 we have a major pay-per-view with a proper crossover event. KSI’s following, plus the MMA crowd that would have followed Dillon Danis’ career, makes this a highly anticipated event and we’re excited to be the exclusive global broadcaster for that event. Not just for this event, but we’re equally looking forward to continuing to partner with Misfits Boxing and JJ in future events, so thank you.

Kalle Sauerland

I think one of the big success factors, who unfortunately isn’t here today but is watching from the States, is Mams Taylor. I look at this card and you’ve got names on there now who have become regulars for our fans, with the likes of Slim, Salt Papi, Ryan Taylor etc. You start to see the vision of where we’ll go on from 004 to 005 and far into the future with a sustainability, and a consistency, in a crazy space but one Misfits Boxing has occupied.

Joe Markowski

I think the breadth of anyone who can fight and who can participate in our events is really anyone with a public profile, that’s the beauty of it. We’ve been brainstorming about where this can go; is it politicians, is it rappers, is it actors, is it YouTuber’s – I think it can be everyone. We want people to know the door is open and we want to do this globally.

For the sports industry, what we’re trying to do with the X Series is extremely innovative and, equally, important. As the younger generation comes into watching sport we want to engage with them, so the crossover of sport with the “new age celebrity” is super important in that. We’re incredibly proud to be foundational partners in all of this.

Kalle Sauerland

I feel we’re doing something for the whole boxing space by attracting those young eyeballs, which leads me on to the man next to me who occupies the space at the very top of the castle. Someone who is so behind this movement, someone completely dedicated to this sport with true professional. Mr KSI.

This blockbuster event will be available around the world on DAZN and on DAZN PPV in Australia ($AU 14.99 for current subscribers), Canada (CAD $39.99 for current subscribers), France (€9.99 for current subscribers), Netherlands (€9.99 for current subscribers), Mexico ($MXN 99 for current subscribers), New Zealand ($NZ 14.99 for current subscribers), Sweden (SEK 99 for current subscribers) , the UK/Ireland (£11.99/€11.99 for current subscribers) and the U.S. ($39.99 for current subscribers).

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