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Kingpyn boxing and Only Fans star Daniella Hemsley got a LOT of attention by flashing the cameras and crowd after scoring her first win inside the boxing ring Saturday at the Kingpyn Boxing semi-finals.
Hemsley had too much fun celebrating her win at Kingpyn Boxing
Kingpyn boxing has issued a statement in the aftermath, via The Sun:
“As we strive to bring fans the best influencer boxing events possible, we accept that Saturday’s post-fight incident may have offended some viewers and appreciate that this incident didn’t meet the standards expected from Kingpyn fight nights.
“We apologise fully to anyone upset during the broadcast.
“The fighter involved in the incident will not be appearing in the Final event and has decided to take some time away from boxing.
“We will now be turning our attention to the Kingpyn Finals, with all of us more determined than ever to hold the greatest night of influencer boxing and showcase the very best of the sport we all love.”
Whew. Good to hear that Kingpyn Boxing takes their role as purveyors of celebrity facepunching with the seriousness the sport deserves.
Some might even say excessively so.
UPDATE: Hemsley not banned, just too injured to fight
Kingpyn Boxing issued a terse and mildly cryptic statement about Daniella Hemsely’s future with the promotion after her post-fight antics, leading many outlets (including this one) to surmise that she had been effectively iced by the celebrity fight promotion.
After all, when a promoter takes the time to say someone “won’t be appearing” at an event they were expected for after a big PR stunt misfire, it’s hard not to assume that that’s an order coming from the top. But, to hear Hemsley herself tell it, that’s not the case. In a video posted to her YouTube channel, the OnlyFans star revealed that she was indeed taking “some time away from boxing.” But not as any kind of punishment.
The reality is that Hemsley’s second career exhibition fight left her too injured to compete again in the near future. The social media influencer revealed that she likely has a broken thumb as a result of her win over Alexandra Daniel at the Kingpyn semis and may have even broken her elbow as well.
“After my fight, [I] came out, got into the medical room and I’m being checked out by the doctor,” Hemsley explained (transcript via MMA Fighting). “He’s doing the eye checks, the everything checks, and he’s taking my wraps off on my hands and I said to him, ‘I think I’ve broken my thumb.’ I literally even now I can like barely move it and I think I’ve also broken my elbow. I still need to get it scanned but I’ve been so lazy but I literally can’t straighten it.
“Which brings me on to say, there is a lot of speculation in the media at the moment about me being banned. Article after article after article. I am not banned from Kingpyn, guys. I have simply decided to take a few weeks off from training, to recover, to recover my body, and I plan on coming back fighting again hopefully in the winter.”
Let’s look at the tape
In case you’ve already forgotten let’s look at it again. Kingpyn Boxing announcer Wade Plem was mortified.
Promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t approve of Kingpyn Boxing
“My opinion is, I hate it,” Hearn said of Hemsley flashing the crowd (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I hate it. We’ve worked so hard for women in boxing to be respected for their ability, for their merits, for their hard work. One thing we must understand is that ain’t boxing. That needs to be pushed. All that stuff — Misfits, Kingpyn, all that stuff. It needs to be booted so far away from professional boxing, and we really need to disassociate ourselves with what it is.
“It does great numbers. It’s entertainment. It’s all of those things, and what we saw there [with Hemsley]. For me, what I’m trying to do and what we’ve been doing for years and years, the sacrifices people have made to be respected — again, it’s not boxing. But at the same time, I think it’s more of a reflection of society than a reflection of good or bad for boxing. I don’t like it.”
“Unfortunately, we now live in a world where role models, or influencers, are not necessarily doing things that the older generation, which I class myself as, or parents would want your kids to see or think is acceptable,” Hearn added, noting that he’s loved having his daughters spend time with a professional fighter like Katie Taylor.
“[It’s] nothing to do with women, nothing to do with men. You want your kids to behave in a certain way. That’s not a way you’d want your kids to behave, in my opinion. This is only my opinion. But we live in a f—king mental world. Unfortunately, clout is just being chased all over the place. To each their own.”
Boxing did this to itself
As Bloody Elbow’s Zane Simon opined, boxing can only blame itself for this mess.
As much as it’s easy to understand Hearn’s knee-jerk dislike for the kind of buffoonery that celebrity boxing brings, combat sports have always had a courting relationship with some of their more carnival-esque iterations. In part, the ease of training compared to more organized stick & ball sports has kept the bar to entry impossibly low. Technically any two people that can get some gloves and a ring together can find a way to put on a boxing match for money. That’s not so easily done with a game of hockey.
However, It also has to be noted that promoters, boxers, and even legislators have worked to keep that bar to entry low for the sake of their own self interest. With so few pieces in play and such a huge potential for money making ventures, the cash that can be gotten from keeping boxing disorganized and from chasing whatever the hot fight of the moment might be means that there’s always room in the game for some total nonsense.
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