Boxing

Jake Paul's $500,000 Ben Askren Surgery Donation Gets Love From Amanda Serrano

Jake Paul donated a staggering amount of money to help save Ben Askren's life, which Amanda Serrano praised him for.
Grant Young|
IMAGO / NurPhoto

Longtime MMA star Ben Askren (who lost to Jake Paul in a 2021 boxing bout) is now on the other side of a fight for his life that was looking extremely grim just a short time ago.

Askren was hospitalized and in critical condition throughout all of June because of health complications from having pneumonia combined with a severe staph infection.

Askren's condition reached a point where he needed a double lung transplant if he was to survive, which was going to cost $2 million. However, because his health insurance wasn't going to cover the cost, the combat sports community started fundraising to help the Askren family get the amount needed for the procedure.

And this was a success, as the necessary money was raised, Askren received the double lung transplant, and he released a July 9 video where he thanked the community for their support during this trying time.

After his June 28 victory over Julio Cesar Chavez, Jake Paul promised to donate toward Ben Askren's procedure. However, he didn't specify how much he would pay, and there was no proof of his making a donation in the aftermath.

But this changed when The Rugby League Report made a Facebook post on July 8 that read, "Whether you like or hate Jake Paul, he has stepped up in a massive way this week. When his former opponent Ben Askren needed a double lung transplant, and his health insurance company bailed out on it, he stepped up without a media beat-up and covered a large portion of the bill with $500,000 donation without a fuss.

"Massive respect for someone who is very widely disliked everywhere," it added

Amanda Serrano, who Paul works with at MVP Promotions (and who is fighting Katie Taylor in an iconic trilogy on July 11), reposted this on X on July 10, writing, "I’m telling you He’s Different!
"Not once did he go public with this.
"@jakepaul isn’t what most think.
"To know him is to love him 🙏❤️".

Love him or hate him, Paul deserves a ton of respect for chipping in this much to help save his former opponent's life.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.