It’s fitting, really.
For a fight between two boxing stars — Devin Haney vs. Ryan Garcia Saturday night at Barclays Center — who are so active on social media, DAZN added a social media star to help in its broadcast and promotion.
Emily Austin, a sports and entertainment host who has recently begun dabbling in political commentary as well, was recently announced as DAZN’s social presenter throughout fight week.
She was featured on multiple DAZN social channels, interviewing a plethora of the biggest figures around the fight.
Few in media have as large of a following as Austin, which she has now brought to one of the most anticipated fights of the year. A host of her own “Hoop Chat” podcast, a Miss Universe judge and owner of her own “People’s Beauty” skincare company, Austin has 2.1 million followers on Instagram and 512.8K followers on TikTok.
So much of the build-up to Saturday’s bout has revolved around Garcia and Haney’s nonstop social media activity and vitriol — two edgy personalities, to put it lightly, constantly saying and posting outlandish comments.
Few know how to help leverage social media as well as Austin, and dealing with abrasive personas like Garcia and Haney is where Austin believes she thrives.
“The boxing world is really chaotic, and you have to be very aggressive and assertive,” Austin told The Post. “Everybody wants a piece of them. There’s only two guys, it’s not an NBA roster, there’s not 15 players, there’s little allocated time for questions. You need to be very assertive. Having done this before, I did the Le’Veon Bell-Adrian Peterson fight, I did the Bryce Hall-Austin McBroom fight, this is a bigger fight obviously, but I kind of already know the run of the show. … And I think I’m really assertive.”
Originally focused on sports, particularly basketball and the NBA, Austin has recently delved into politics.
She is an ardent pro-Israel activist, and has been outspoken since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and has even met with former hostages who were released. She’s become a regular guest on “Gutfeld!” and has plans to launch her own political show on various social media platforms.
“It’s funny, when I was in college they asked me if I wanted to do political journalism or sports journalism,” Austin said. “And my answer was ‘ew politics, obviously sports.’ Funny enough, sports brought me back to politics. … Athletes started using their platforms more off the court, which I like to see. Just organically, I’ve also voiced my politics. Everyone says you need to choose, and I’m just kind of saying ‘I’m not gonna choose.’ And I’m here, so something is going right.”
That wide-ranging following is exactly what so many boxing promoters and broadcasters are looking for — a way to bring in new and unconventional fans to the sport that aren’t already die-hards.
DAZN and Austin seem to be a perfect match.
“Since I have an NBA audience when I’m advertising this fight, you could say that people who hadn’t planned on watching it might tune in now, because now there’s a familiar face encouraging them to,” Austin said. “Obviously the more social media is involved — it’s pay-per-view — so the more they market it, the more fans and hype and drama surround it.”
