YouTube star Mike Varshavski, better known by Dr Mike, has confirmed that he paid his entire purse for his boxing debut to Ukraine Crisis Relief.
The social media sensation is a New York-based primary care physician, who is also known for his YouTube channel where he reacts to memes and shares medical advice. He had been training to box for fitness purposes over the past decade, before popular creator Ian 'IDubbbz' Carter made it clear that he wanted an opponent for his own debut.
Varshavski stepped up, and the pair along with a card of other social media stars raised over $1.3million for selected charities with a night of exhibition fighting. He picked up the victory over IDubbbz by dominating the five round contest and taking a lopsided unanimous decision.
And despite having already made a massive sum for charity through the event, which sold over 100,000 pay-per-view streams, the doctor decided to give the rest of his earnings from the fight to a further charity. He had declared prior to the bout that he would be donating to Ukraine after the devastation of their invasion by Russia, where he was born, and made good on the promise yesterday.
He shared a screenshot on Instagram of his American Express notification, indicating a $47,000 donation to the Global Giving Foundation, along with a message that said: "Proud to donate my entire Creator Clash payout to Global Giving's Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund." The charity reposted his message thanking him for the generous donation.
"Someone left a comment on one of my boxing videos," he said immediately after his win. "I wish I remember their username because I want to give credit, but that person said 'Mike's really trying to do all the side quests in life'.
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"That's what I'm about, let's go. Because I'm a practicing physician, I'm seeing patients and literally saving lives. I'm teaching future doctors on how to be good doctors and still putting out a tremendous amount of content every single week with the help of my amazing team.
"IDubbbz is truly the man, I did not expect for him to put up that much of a fight. He took a lot of damage, took it like a champ, kept coming forward, he put on a tremendous event for you guys and you owe him a big round of applause."
Varshavski was the latest in a series of YouTubers to make the switch into boxing, following in the footsteps of Jake and Logan Paul as well as KSI. But it remains to be seen if he will fight again, given his dedication to his medical profession and career in content creation.
