KSI has issued an apology to Wayne Bridge and revealed a private message he sent the ex-England footballer after their clash in the boxing ring.
A year on from his defeat to Tommy Fury, KSI announced to the crowd at last month’s Misfits Boxing 20 event in Manchester that he had reached an agreement to return and fight Bridge.
But the atmosphere very quickly turned sour when Bridge jumped into the ring, with KSI launching into a vicious verbal attack in which he brought up the topic of his rival’s ex-girlfriend, Vanessa Perroncel, and her alleged affair with John Terry.
Bridge pulled out of the bout just two days later, citing the YouTuber’s ‘deeply personal’ remarks as the reason for his decision. Former UFC star Dillon Danis has since been confirmed as his replacement for the March 29 showpiece.
Bridge and Terry had been team-mates at both club and international level during their playing days – and Perroncel’s supposed involvement with the latter dominated both the front and back pages in 2010.
Perroncel has repeatedly denied having an affair but Bridge refused to shake Terry’s hand when the duo later came up against each other midway through the 2009/10 Premier League season.
‘I’m sure a lot of you have seen what happened on Saturday night at the Misfits Boxing event,’ Bridge said in a statement confirming his withdrawal from the fight.
‘Firstly, I think it’s important to explain my reason for accepting the fight. I always like to challenge myself. This felt like a good opportunity to go up against an interesting opponent on a big stage.
‘I have always loved boxing as part of my everyday training routine. I was fully prepared to train hard and have some fun. Of course, I expected to face some criticism, but I feel like what was said on Saturday crossed a line.
‘These are deeply personal comments that affect mine and other families involved in the situation. I’m a family man first and my priority is protecting them.
‘My opponent is someone that many children look up to around the world, including my kids. I hope one day he will look back on this differently. I personally don’t wan’t to be involved in these exchanges. I will no longer fight on 29th March.’
KSI kept his head down and remained tight-lipped in the days following Bridge’s withdrawal, with talkSPORT presenter Simon Jordan among those to slam the social media sensation.
But speaking on the latest episode of Sidecast, KSI took the opportunity to say sorry to Bridge for what he had said during the exchange.
‘I privately DM-ed him. The thing is, I messaged him like, “Bro, I’m not a d***head!”‘, KSI explained.
‘I know [he’s got a wife and kids] but I was selling the fight and I thought he should know that. Wayne Bridge, I’m sorry. I’ve told you in DMs anyway but, yeah, my bad.’
Earlier this month, KSI claimed that Nate Diaz, Donald Cerrone, Tony Ferguson and Jorge Masvidal had all rejected the chance to fight him before Danis agreed to enter the ring with him next month.
‘Dillon Danis wasn’t even my fourth choice! He went to Nate Diaz, he said no. We went to Donald Cerrone, he said no. We went to Tony Ferguson, he said no.
‘These guys said no to me. So I’m like, “Bro, do I have to go to a f***ing footballer to fight?”, and he said yes, so what the f***.
‘I’m there confused that a footballer wants to fight me but these top UFC, ex-UFC fighters, don’t want to fight me.’
On Danis being his next opponent, KSI added: ‘You know what? I’m fine with it.
‘I’m happy to knock out Dillon Danis, I’ve been wanting to knock this guy out since Misfits 3.
‘I don’t understand this talk of him being irrelevant.’
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