Doctor Mike grew up in poverty after immigrating from Russia to New York as a child, which is why the family medicine physician is donating his $175,000 purse for fighting on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva to a youth charity in his local area.
The YouTube star, whose real name is Mike Varshavski, faces MMA veteran Chris Avila in his professional boxing debut on the undercard of the event. Varshavski has decided to donate his entire purse for the fight to The Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, a organisation that provides gives young people access to sports. Varshavski said welfare offices and social programmes in New York were an integral part of his childhood, which is why he is giving away his fight purse.
"I came to the United States as an immigrant from Russia and we were essentially broke because my father went to medical school and my mother, who was a PHD maths professor, was sleeping floors for $5 a hour so we had food to eat," Varshavski told Mirror Fighting . "The welfare programmes here in New York and really what kept us afloat. I still remember my grandfather making trips to the welfare office in order to get some Fruity Loop cereal that we couldn't afford at the supermarket but the welfare offices could.
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"I never had the opportunity to go to the boys and girls club, but I know that there is a lot of kids who if they don't have activities to participate and they really fall by the wayside. I know how important it is to have social and sport gatherings to keep kids moving, I see that as a doctor day in day out. The fact the boys and girls club of Harlem does that is really amazing.
"My full fight purse of $175,000 minus whatever my trainer and agency gets, anything that comes to me goes straight to them, I'm not keeping a dollar of it. There is also a knockout bonus, if I win that it's another reason for me to strive to get that knockout right away. I'm not doing this for money, I've been lucky to be successful with YouTube and all that stuff."
Varshavski already has a win under his belt having competed in an exhibition bout against fellow content creator Ian 'IDubbbz' Carter at Creator Clash in May, donating his $47,000 fight purse to the Ukraine Crisis Relief after the win. The YouTube star will have a big size advantage over Avila, who is five inches shorter and will likely be considerably lighter than Varshavski, who weighed in at 185lb for his last fight against iDubbbz.
