Doctor Mike has insisted fans will be surprised by his boxing skills when he fights on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva.
The family medicine physician, YouTube star and now professional boxer fights MMA veteran Chris Avila on October 29 in Phoenix, Arizona. Doctor Mike, whose real name is Mike Varshavski, already has a win under his belt having competed in his exhibition bout against fellow content creator Ian 'IDubbbz' Carter in May, dominating the five-round fight to win a lopsided decision.
Varshavski will have a big size advantage over Avila, who is five inches shorter than the YouTube star. Avila, who holds a MMA record of 8-9, has competed as low as 145lb during his career but his fight with Varshavski will take place at 185lb. Varshavski hopes to show the improvements he's made in training since fighting 'IDubbbz' when he challenges Avila later this month.
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"A lot of people after seeing my fight with IDubbbz talk about my right hand, so absolutely I want to be able to use my right hand and show that power" Varshavski told Mirror Fighting . "In this training camp we've put in a lot of work to show the combinations, speed and the ability to mix in my left hand more.
"I think people will be surprised by the boxing IQ and ability that we're hoping to put out for this fight, just to show that absolutely there's power. I've always been a guy who's been lifting really strong but this is more about showing that I understand what boxing is, pacing and positioning in the ring."
Part of Varshavski's decision to fight Avila was because he wanted to challenge himself against a real fighter instead of a fellow YouTuber in his pro debut. Other than a one-off bout in 2014, Avila's only win in the boxing ring comes against fellow MMA veteran Anthony Taylor. The teammate of UFC legend Nate Diaz outpointed Taylor on the undercard of Paul's rematch against Tyron Woodley last December.
"I could have fought other YouTubers and gone that whole influencer boxing route, but really I want to test myself and put my abilities to a serious challenge to see if my trainer is talking me up or does he really believe I'm ready for the fight game," Varshavski added. "I felt like that challenge was only going to come from someone who is either extremely athletic like a pro athlete, or a pro fighter like Chris Avila."
