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The Evening of the Year with boxing matches between Youtubers organized by Ibai Llanos, the second most watched broadcast on Twitch

On May 27 there was an event known as the Evening of the Year that surprised many who do not follow the stars of YouTube or Twitch, but which managed to be one of the most viewed broadcasts on Twitch. Several Youtubers decided to mount their own boxing show with a professional presentation, with federated referees and commented on by Ibai Llanos, presented by Queen Mary and with guests such as the two components of Pantomima Full.

This apparently random idea that seemed to be a joke between friends, was a success assured by the stars who participated, who gave the following matches:

  • Future vs. Torete
  • Mister Jägger vs ByViruzz
  • Reven vs ElmiilloR

To strengthen the legitimacy of the show, there were important names in boxing such as Sandor Martin, Sergio “Maravilla” Martínez and Tinín Rodríguez. And it didn't go badly for them because the stream managed to generate more than a million simultaneous viewers, a number of viewers for which many national television networks would do impossible work. According to analyst Rod Breslau, it's the second biggest single stream on Twitch, second only to the reveal of the skin by Fornite by TheGref for Fortnite.

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The success of The Evening of the Year, explained

Now, how do you explain that a million people watch boxing matches? This can be explained if we see that they have used the same technique that Vince McMahon's WWF used to attract a general public to a show considered marginal such as wrestling, using outside stars as key pieces for people to see the show. For the first edition of Wrestlemania in 1985, Mr. T, Cindy Lauper, baseball player Billy Martin, Liberace and boxer Muhammad Ali were involved as a publicity measure and to generate excitement. The importance of the stars was such that Mr. T was half of the promotional poster for that first event, and he repeated for a boxing match at the next event.

And it is that this technique of “include celebrities who have hobbies” Putting on a show has worked for them as long as they have had stars in all the editions. In the recent edition of Wrestlemania 37 they brought Bad Bunny to fight in a match and Logan Paul as a guest star. Bad Bunny was part of a story in the company for three months, and had the best-selling shirt for a month along with an increase in audiences and Latino audiences for WWE.

It is not difficult to think that in the case of those more than a million people who went to The Evening of the Year, very few were previous boxing followers and the bulk was to see youtubers whom they appreciate in an environment strange to the usual. It is the same case as the success of Critical Role and Memeverso, that many people were not fans of the role of Dragons and Dungeons, but they watch those shows because they are the voice of McCree from Overwatch, or there are Dayo, Alexelcapo, Lynx and Felipez. They are interested in seeing internet stars with whom they feel a connection in a different situation than usual and showing how they are outside of their comfort zone.

Possible future for more boxing evenings between youtubers?

The use of seven major influencers as headliners and more guests has made The Evening of the Year the second most watched stream in the world. Many youtubers have declared that they want to participate in the 2022 edition if it is done, such as Lord Draugr, Loulogio, Wall Street Wolverine, Jordi Wild, Ibai Llanos himself, Dayoscript, Mr. Cheeto ... And there could even be a female fight between Sizematters and La Hiper Actina. But it is still too early to talk about it, since they will have to calculate the expenses and if it pays to do an even larger second edition.

But it must be taken into account that practically all the weight of the interest of the show that is La Velada del Año de Ibai Llanos falls on the stars of Youtube and Twitch. It is not the ideal place to put professional fighters, or at least it is not expected that the second evening will be sold based on bouts of professional or even federated boxers, but someone could enter.

It could also be an event totally open to the public because they should have already been vaccinated against Covid-19 to the entire Spanish target population. Selling tickets to such an event could generate much more revenue than they could get from advertising on Twitch. They could even sell it as a special event to televisions or sell it to pay-per-view services such as Movistar+, FiteTV or DAZN. This could give it an air of legitimacy by making it seem like it's not some crazy experiment between seven friends.

Now if a second edition is made, the participants will do everything possible to promote their matches since that would give them even more public. We can hope that next year some of those involved will promote their fight with a simulated personality change to make people want to pay to see how they beat them in a fight. This promotion is very basic, but it is so effective that Muhammad Ali learned it from Gorgeous George, the first wrestling wrestler who had a defined character to manipulate the public and thanks to this he had to be escorted and threats kept coming. This technique helped Ali to become one of the biggest stars in boxing, and YouTube stars may turn to it to generate interest in a 2022 edition.

Although the boxing show between Youtubers is not a totally original idea. Logan Paul and KSI, both well-known YouTubers in the English language, had a rivalry that sparked professional boxing matches in 2018 and 2019. The first of those matches generated 1.300.000 sales from the event, and 1.200.000 in the event. of the second. It is clear that the technique works and its success already depends on how those involved in the second Evening of the Year at Ibai Llanos get involved to attract boxing fans as well as their native fans who are not involved in contact and combat sports.

Fights and results of the editions of La Velada del Año

The Evening of the Year (2021)

  • bullfighter vs. Future. Winner: Torete
  • Mr. Jägger vs. Viruzz. Winner: Mr Jagger
  • ReventXz vs. elmiillor. Winner: ReventXz

The Evening of the Year II (2022)

  • Carola vs. Spursito. Winner: Spursito
  • Arigameplay vs Paracetamor. Winner: Arigameplay
  • Viruzz vs Momo. Viruzz Winner
  • Luzu vs. Lolito. Fight ended early due to an injury to Luzu.
  • Mister Jägger vs. David Bustamante. Winner: Mr. Jägger

The Evening of the Year III (2023)

The Evening of the Year III will be held on July 1 at the Civitas Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, formerly known as the Estadio Civitas Metropolitano. Normally, it is the stadium where the Spanish team plays at home Atletico Madrid.

  • Ampeter vs. Abraham Matthew
  • La Rivers vs. Marina Rivers
  • Luzu vs. Fernanfloo
  • ByViruzz vs. Misho
  • Amoranth vs Mayichi
  • Coscu vs German Garmendia

It will feature performances by Ozuna, Quevedo, Feid, Maira Becerra, Estopa and Rosario Flores.

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Benjamin Rosa

Madrileño whose publishing career began in 2009. I love investigating curiosities that I later bring to you, readers, in articles. I studied photography, a skill that I use to create humorous photomontages.

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