KSI’s boxing coach Viddal Riley has explained why he is no longer working with Deji ‘ComedyShortsGamer’ Olatunji ahead of his fight with Jake Paul.
The Hackney-born boxer confirmed that there was no bad blood between him and KSI’s younger brother, saying “it was all logistics” during an episode of the True Geordie podcast.
Riley went on to say “it was the travel, it was the fact that he made it publicly known he wasn’t happy at the Sidemen house, he wasn’t happy with the support he we was receiving outside of boxing training. Me and Deji have no personal issues at all”.
The Hackney-born boxer was originally training Deji for his August 25 boxing match but Jake Paul announced in June that Deji had been “dropped” and would no longer be working Viddal.
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Speculation about Deji’s commitment to his training quickly began to circulate and Jake Paul supporters soon came to the conclusion that Viddal had distanced himself from someone that he did not believe could win.
However, Viddal makes it clear that this is not the case and doubles down on the belief that Deji can beat his larger opponent if he “puts his head down”:
“I know Deji’s mentality. He wants to prove the world wrong. He thrives off of proving people wrong. He doesn’t want to be in the shadow of anyone.”
Riley clearly believes that Deji’s grit and determination will be the deciding factor against the stronger, more athletic, Jake Paul.