Wolverhampton microwave prankster loses YouTube boxing fight

It was hailed as the internet’s biggest-ever event, beamed live in front of 20,000 fans, pulling in millions of pounds – and starring a Black Country lad you’ve probably never heard of.

Former Diffusion shop assistant Jay Swingler, an online prankster, fought on the undercard for KSI Vs Logan Paul, a white collar boxing event that pulled in millions of viewers worldwide.

The bash was broadcast on YouTube with subscribers paying £7.50 a time to watch the entire show.

It has been hailed as a game-changing success – particularly among young fans – raking in more than many professional boxing pay-per-view events. A total of 784,000 people signed up, raking in more than £5.5 million – on top of the gate money.

As one half of the YouTube channel ‘TGFbro’, Jay was third on the bill for the main event that saw the UK’s biggest YouTuber KSI take on America’s Logan Paul.

Jay, 23, a former Kidderminster Harriers youth player and Halesowen College student, fought fellow YouTuber AnEson (Ali) Gib in four rounds of ‘boxing’ that saw the local lad, from Wolverhampton and living in Dudley, lose on a points decision.

The bash, dubbed the ‘biggest event in internet history’ took place on Saturday and was watched by 20,000 people at Manchester Arena and by millions of people around the world on a pay-per-view stream on YouTube.

It was headlined by Watford-born Olajide Olatunji, known as ‘KSI’ and his younger brother Deji Olatunji who took on Logan and Jake Paul, two brothers from Ohio in America who also found fame through viral videos online.

The four-round battle saw Jay lose on a points decision in his first-ever fight against Gib, who was slightly more experienced having had one previous bout.

Jay said in a message to his fans: “You’re all actually insane, that support was unreal. Thank you! Unfortunately I didn’t get the win, nothing but respect to the sport of boxing and a massive hats off to Ali.”

The TGFbro YouTube channel, which has more than four million subscribers is run by Jay and his co-star Romell Henry.

The channel sees the pair take on bonkers pranks and challenges in a cross between Jackass and Candid Camera.

In some of their most notable videos the duo have buried themselves in makeshift coffins, taken a bath in a tub full of fake tan and buried their feet in a bucket of builder’s expanding foam.

The lads then broadcast these on YouTube and rake in a fortune from advertising revenue; their most watched video is ‘Nettle Olympics’ which sees them trying various tasks in beds of nettles at the side of a Black Country road.

So far, it has been viewed more than 15 million times – almost twice as many as a midweek episode of Coronation Street.

Their most infamous stunt came in December 2017 when Jay cemented his head inside a microwave and needed the emergency services’ help remove it.

Firefighters had to carefully use a screwdriver to free Jay's head after he and his friends mixed seven bags of Polyfilla and poured it around his head, which was protected by a plastic bag inside a microwave.

WATCH: TGFbro's top YouTube hits

Nettle Olympics – has racked up around 15 million views and features an Olympics-style game featuring sprints and topless long jumps, all over stinging nettles

Extreme Crocodile Dentist – Ouch! His second most watched clip with 12.5 million views involves a Russian Roulette style game with nails trapping fingers

We spent the night buried in solid concrete (couldn’t get out) – this video – seen nine and a half million times sees Jay submerged in a bath full of concrete

I set myself in Jello overnight – his fourth most watched video on YouTubewith almost nine million views sees Jay set himself into a bath full which is full of gelatin