Anime Debate…Boxing?
story by editor-in-chief: Ashly Nicole
Photo by Ashly Nicole
July has been a whirlwind of events within the Anime community, including all the happenings at Anime Expo, but also a fun event hosted by Favorited and Anime IRL called, Anime Debate Boxing. This event was the first of its kind, at least from my findings; it was high energy, and probably one of the most interesting events I’ve been to in awhile.
The boxing matches put on were essentially an IRL version of what Anime IRL does on their channel…minus the actual boxing. For this event, anime enthusiasts, cosplay fans, and a full roster of influencers both debate-boxing and in attendance.
Chris Bennett, one of the hosts of the Anime IRL socials, was the ring announcer for the event, and was brought into some of the action, especially during the heated debate portions of each match. There were 5 matches total, each consisting of two opponents facing off in a verbal debate about various anime related questions. Each match began with a question & answer, followed by a 90 second boxing match, a rebuttal, followed by another round of boxing, one final rebuttal, and then finishing off with the third and final boxing round of the match. Every match had a winner for both the debate and boxing portions, some competitors taking home both wins, and others, giving a win to each of the boxers.
This event was “star” studded throughout, from the boxer-debaters to the ring girls, and even audience members! Some of the social media stars who gathered to watch this event include, Stanzie, known for their comedic TikToks, Isaac, and Lonnie Marts IIV. The ring girls was also made up of an entire cast of all star cosplayers, streamers, and influencers, which included icons like, Danielle DeNicola, ZooGirlQ, Tala Rexchuoctomush, and Ravengriim.
Finally moving on to the list of superstar anime loving debating boxers, we had none other than, Kageyonn vs his last minute opponent, Riz Haider, Might Guy vs SPYROS, and Doc Egemba vs SPLACK. And boxing in the two main events of the evening, the besties, Julia Maggio vs Stella Chuu, and the kings of everything anime, NCHammer vs Danny Motta. Some of the contestants definitely had their work cut out for them, and it did not go unnoticed in the ring; regarding the last minute match switch up, Kageyonn was quoted saying, “I trained so hard, despite my og opponent dropping out, I couldn’t just drop! Not after all the work.” and that hard work certainly paid off for him.
There’s no doubt that some of these competitors had the upper hand when it came to strength, but for this competition, where some lacked in brawn, they made up for in their knowledge of anime and strong debate skills. These anime experts were fighting and defending things from, “what male character would make the best anime wife?”, to “Is Nezuko Kamado’s potential wasted as a character?”, and even the super controversial, “which is more formative in the world of anime, Dragon Ball Z or One Piece?”, and let’s just say, some of the debates caused a few to go super saiyan.
One of the most memorable moments of the event comes from the debate between the best friends, Julia and Stella, where they debated and sparred over who in the world of anime would make the best wife. The heat was already brought from the very beginning of this match, but was turned up a few notches in the second rebuttal, when Stella may or may not have began yelling things teetering on the line of being PG-13, causing the broadcast staff had to temporarily cut her mic feed to the stream. The girls continued on to box it out, but half way through the final round, the gloves literally came off, and the anime husbando body pillows were brought into the ring. Julia and Stella then instead began pillow fighting, with both ultimately tying in both areas of the match, sharing the championship belt, and embracing each other in the biggest best friend hug.
The very last match, the main event of main events, NCHammer vs Danny Motta. This match started out so intense, with tensions running high in the first debate round. There was yelling, there were bribes, Danny’s family gave the ring host, Chris a Team Motta sweater, but Chris clearly stated he was remaining unbiased! From the first punch thrown, if was clear who had the physical advantage, and for those watching, especially for Danny’s family, it became increasingly difficult to watch each physical boxing round. Although Danny came out on top in the debate category, NCHammer (Nick), ultimately took home the championship belt, winning the overall match. Both fighters were such amazing sports throughout the entire thing, and there were no sore winners or losers; Nick and Danny even shared hugs…and maybe a reluctant kiss that I’m not qualified to confirm happened or not.
Anime Debate Boxing may have been the first of its kind, definitely a competitor to the infamous Creator Clash (if it makes a return), and something for influencers, anime, and boxing enthusiasts alike to check out! Who knows? Maybe Anime Debate Boxing will become an entire new genre of sport in the future.
All Photos by Ashly Nicole