VIDDAL RILEY is flying around the world with KSI and signing deals with Floyd Mayweather, ripping up the boxing rule book one page at a time.
The Londoner’s first professional bout was in Tijuana, Mexico in front of 20 locals but has been watched close to 1million times on his personal YouTube channel.
The 22-year-old trainer’s star pupil will make his own professional bow on November 9, in the sold-out Los Angeles Staples Center, with millions set to buy the pay-per-view clash with fellow internet celebrity Logan Paul.
When Paul’s trainer, the former lineal heavyweight world champ Shannon Briggs, tried to muscle in on Riley’s speech at the fight’s UK press conference, Riley laid waste to the 67-fight veteran’s career with just a handful of homemade t-shirts and a couple of verbal blows.
The 3,000 teenagers, and supposed next generation of boxing fans, packed into the Troxy went wild. The middle-aged outsiders peering in at this baffling new world scratched their balding heads.
How did Riley, a respected Team GB amateur and product of the iconic West Ham boys club, end up a main player in the controversial bout and a member of the Floyd Mayweather promotional stable?
SunSport went to Plaistow to meet and train with Riley and his own coach Leon Wills, and discovered the new-age success is based on old-school values.
Sunkissed Las Vegas and California for fight KSI’s camp – why are we stuck in damp West Ham?
“When it comes to preparation, hard work and grit, I don’t need luxury. I just need a ring, a bag and some gloves to get to work. That’s why we are sat in West Ham boxing club, it’s my second home.
“I started boxing at six years old, my dad used to box but I don’t think he really wanted me to do it too. We used to much about training but I think I showed some engagement in the sport and he saw that I wanted to take it further and helped start my career.
“My amateur career was around 12 years long, I won eight national titles, a European silver medal and was a youth Olympian. I was sixth in the world for a couple of years, between the ages of 16-18.
“I feel I managed to make the most of my amateur career and that has all stood me in good stead for being a professional now.”
How did you go from being a rising UK prospect to the trainer of the most controversial man in boxing?
“I was just a PT doing my own thing and I bumped into one YouTuber that led to another and another before eventually meeting KSI and him being called out for a boxing match with Joe Weller.
“From that point I started training him and we clicked, everyone has seen the success we have with bringing the huge and growing YouTube market into the traditional world of boxing.
“We have been successful enough that Eddie Hearn has wanted to become a part of it and it’s a special thing for me to see.
“Someone I have taught to box is ready to box in a sold-out 20,000-seater arena, on pay-per-view, I am really very proud of that.”
This fight is facing tons of criticism from almost every part of the traditional boxing community that feels it is being invaded by imposters. But you’re a bonafide boxer and one of the driving forces behind it. How come?
“If you ask the critics why they are unhappy with the bout or why they think it is a disgrace to the sport, they can only say it is because they are YouTubers.
“But everyone deserves a chance to box, you cannot tell a binman or a lawyer they cannot turn professional so why is a YouTuber any different?
“Most professional boxers have another occupation, whether that is making millions of pounds by filming themselves on the internet, or working for minimum wage in a sports shop.
“KSI and Logan are very good at their occupation and they have a right to fight. If they train hard and prepare, like they are doing, people should not have a problem with it.”
After 17 years you know first hand what it takes to become an amateur and professional boxer. How do you convince fans KSI is anywhere close after barely two – who does he even spar with?
“It’s difficult to find sparring for KSI because he is better than your beginner but not as good as your elite amateur.
“He is not at Olympic level but he is certainly more advanced than someone having their first bout and not knowing what they’re doing. So we have to work very hard to find sparring.
“When I spar KSI, I have to hurt him because if I don’t then this YouTuber can go around saying he hurt me.
“I always prove a point and send him home knowing he cannot compete with me.
Me and him spar a lot because I am the size as Logan, we are all cruiserweights and I am better than Logan will ever be, so it’s ideal sparring for KSI.
“The stakes for this fight are very high, the draw left everything up in the air. KSI has made a lot of progress mentally and boxing is a mental sport.
“Seeing him grow upstairs means I know he will be able to perform on the night, because his brain will be in the right place.
“His boxing IQ today compared to the first fight has skyrocketed and when gets in the right, the mental and physical aspects of the training combine and we knock Logan Paul out.”
