YouTube star Doctor Mike is hitting back at controversy surrounding his fight against fellow influencer iDubbbz at Creator Clash this past weekend.
Creator Clash has made its mark on the influencer boxing world in a huge way.
The event, which took place this past Saturday, saw eighteen unconventional influencers duke it out with one another in the boxing ring — all in the name of charity.
The showdown was a massive success, with all 10,000 seats in the Yuengling Arena sold out for a full house packed to the brim with excited fans.
Although the response to Creator Clash was overwhelmingly positive, the main event of the evening saw some controversy arise online. First, the main fight was initially slated for four rounds lasting three minutes each — but a last-minute error saw iDubbbz and Doctor Mike fight five two-minute rounds, instead.
While the Creator Clash Twitter account confirmed that this was merely a mistake, that wasn’t the only issue to garner backlash on social media; critics were also convinced that Doctor Mike had landed a “cheap shot” on iDubbbz during their fight.
After touching gloves at the very beginning of their second round, Doctor Mike instantly went in for a headshot on iDubbbz, prompting some to claim bad sportsmanship on the health professional’s part.
Ians fight was meant to be 3 minute rounds for 4. There was a mess up. Either way they went hard and I don’t think it would of changed the outcome. Thank you for all the support pic.twitter.com/lNdgUls7jl
— Creator Clash (@TheCreatorClash) May 15, 2022
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Doctor Mike has since explained the matter in an interview with Philip DeFranco, where he apologized for the ordeal and admitted it was a fault on his part.
“They’re completely right to say that,” he began. “I get where they’re coming from. In my corner, they’re constantly telling me, ‘Start fast, start fast.’ In fact, I don’t even know why I went in to touch gloves the second round.”
“It was probably because, in preparing for the fight, my trainers would say, ‘Okay, when the fight starts, go to touch gloves and then right away, we want you to get into the action.’ Somehow, with all the adrenaline, even in the second round, I went to touch gloves and start the action real fast. …that was my apologies. I shouldn’t have done that.”
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Doctor Mike also dismissed any “conspiracy theories” arising due to the sudden change in fight length during their bout, explaining that, although the issue likely gave iDubbbz the upper hand, he had no ill will toward his opponent nor the event, whatsoever.