YouTube star Doctor Mike was surprised to see his name on a list of potential opponents for KSI 's next fight.
Doctor Mike, whose real name is Mike Varshavski, makes his professional boxing debut on October 29 when he faces MMA veteran Avila on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva. Varshavski already has an exhibition win under his belt having beaten fellow content creator Ian 'IDubbbz' Carter earlier this year but faces a big step-up in competition against Avila, who holds an MMA record of 8-9 and is a teammate of UFC legend Nate Diaz.
Varshavski was recently named in a Twitter poll KSI made about his next opponent having beaten rapper Swarmz and professional boxer Luis Pineda on the same night. Former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, YouTube boxer Slim Albaher, Bellator fighter Dillon Danis and Varshavski were all included on the list, with Woodley receiving the highest number of votes and Varshavski receiving the fewest. Varshavski thinks fellow content creator KSI recognises his value, which is why his name was included on the poll.
Do you want to see Doctor Mike fight KSI? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below
"I was surprised, just because KSI and I have every really had any interaction," Varshavski told Mirror Fighting . "I think his team sees that we're taking this seriously, they understand they value that bring with the huge social media following that we have. We're also quite different in the space as a lot of the content creators that are good at boxing tend to have smaller numbers because they're really focused on boxing and not so much content creation.
"Despite putting a tremendous emphasis on our boxing training, we're still putting out a ton of content and making 60 to 100 million views a month. I think that's really unique in this boxing space. So if we can show a great showing against Chris Avila, I think there's going to be a lot of opportunities and tough decisions to be made moving forward."
KSI's recent wins were brought into question as Swarmz could barely throw a punch whilst Pineda was dropped seven times before being stopped in a comical fight. Varshavski admitted it was hard to take anything anyway from KSI's two wins and wants to see the Brit face a tougher opponent in his next fight.
"I think it's hard to make anything out of it, because he so clearly overmatched his opponents," Varshavski added. "It's fine for KSI to set that up, I kind of put it more on Swarmz and his training team. The other professional guy, I don't know what that was, that was really strange. KSI needed to get his feet wet, he showed that he was a strong fighter. I'd like to see who he fights next to see what he's capable of."
