Who knew a social media beef between Chris Brown and Soulja Boy over a Karrueche Instagram picture could transition into the most-hyped celebrity boxing match in pop culture history since Todd Bridges vs. Vanilla Ice, Coolio vs. Jeremy Jackson, and DMX vs. George Zimmerman?
Less than a week into the new year, 50 Cent’s antagonistic self pushed for a bout between the two before it was confirmed by all involved parties. Since then, information about the fight has ranged from conflicting to all-out bizarre.
Sure, many may be excited to see two of the most controversial figures in music slug it out, but the hype could just be an attention grabber without any follow-up. Then again, the world waited years for Floyd Mayweather’s fight with Manny Pacquiao to become a reality.
As of right now, it doesn’t look like either Brown or Soulja will make it to the ring and here are six reasons why.
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Basic Logistics Are Missing
As of now, the only thing anyone knows logistically is that the fight will take place in Dubai because of rules and regulations in Las Vegas that could include a mandatory drug test. Even that bit of news isn’t exactly concrete. Mayweather shot down the idea of the United Arab Emirates city hosting the bout on ESPN’s First Take before The Game and Ray J’s manager Wack 100 said otherwise.
Plus, there still hasn’t even been an actual date confirmed outside of Soulja naming March on Twitter. No venue and no date means no boxing match.
Then again, they could go another route, and handle it Miami backyard fighting style and throw it on Worldstar. I think the public would enjoy that a lot more. Maybe they can still get Kelly Price to sing the national anthem.
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No Clear Idea Who Is Promoting
What’s a high-profile boxing match without a promoter? Maybe Don King was too busy being Donald Trump’s rich negro, but regardless, there seems to be some confusion on exactly who is promoting the fight. Considering the initial flyer, it was once thought that Floyd Mayweather’s promotional company would handle those duties. Later, Wack 100 said he was running the show. Earlier this week (January 17), Soulja’s impatience got the best of him on Twitter and he said he was going to organize the fight himself, before deleting those tweets.
Either way, it’s difficult to have faith in Deandre Way as a promoter when he doesn’t seem to understand what “throwing a fight” means in boxing terms.
The Undercard Is Falling Apart
Not that the fight necessarily needs an undercard, but Brown vs. Soulja was originally slated to have a few. 50 Cent took to Instagram to announce the possibility of settling the decade-long feud between former NBA players Kenyon Martin and Tim Thomas. Then Martin himself shot down the idea in no uncertain terms, saying, “If you entertain clowns, you become part of the circus. I’m a 39-year-old grown-ass man, dog.”
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Meanwhile, it’s safe to assume 21 Savage was more preoccupied with his eventual deal at Epic Records than to be bothered with 22 Savage’s murder-charge-having self.
Let’s be honest here, unless one is scraping the bottom of the D-list barrel, no self-respecting person in their right mind would participate in this spectacle.
There’s No Confirmed Method Of Actually Watching The Fight
If the fight does take place in Dubai, that makes for an expensive plane ticket for those traveling from America. This means that many will be watching it from their televisions, computers or mobile devices. With that in mind, something tells me Showtime and HBO won’t be coming anywhere near this. Then again, FOX could use it as a reason to bring back Celebrity Boxing.
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A possible route could be to make the fight an online pay-per-view event that hopefully doesn’t turn into a catastrophe like Total Slaughter did.
Both Are Technically In Two Different Weight Classes
Mike Tyson made news this week with his “If You Show Up” Soulja diss after Chris Brown took him on as a trainer. Makes sense considering the singer’s reported weightputs him somewhere around 180 pounds. This places Brown around the light heavyweight class (though Tyson was a heavyweight throughout his career).
This is nowhere near Soulja, who must sit somewhere around a lanky 130 pounds, which has him in the lightweight/super featherweight vicinity. His (former?) trainer Mayweather spent his career ranging between super featherweight to light middleweight.
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Though the simulated fight from EA Sport’s UFC 2 sawBrown emerging victorious, it’s sort of misleading. If the fight does happen, it’ll probably look like something out of Punch Out or Def Jam: Fight For New York. I place my bets on it looking like this.
Chris Brown Isn’t Even Talking About It Anymore
Here’s the biggest indicator that the fight isn’t happening anytime soon. The last time Brown even mentioned the fight was about a week ago with this Instagram post.
Since then, he’s been relatively quiet on the matter, despite still being active on IG with dozens of posts.
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What’s more, 50 and Floyd have also stopped posting about it.
Brown has yet to even acknowledge Mike Tyson’s diss record, which Tyson had previously said would feature Brown. Maybe Breezy was training so intensively he didn’t have time and will bless the remix?
Here’s a bigger reality: Brown is the most relevant celebrity out of all parties involved. Unlike the drama that got him into this in the first place, maybe he’s decided to ignore it. If so, that’ll be the smartest thing anyone has done in this entire saga.