Former WBO featherweight champion Heather Hardy has filed a federal lawsuit against Jake Paul, Most Valuable Promotions, Bryce Holden and Holden Boxing, alleging that they placed her in an unnecessarily dangerous 2023 rematch with Amanda Serrano and contributed to the brain injuries that ended her career. The 54-page lawsuit, filed last week in Dallas, portrays the Serrano rematch as something considerably more troubling than a boxer accepting the risks inherent in her profession. Hardy alleges that the defendants knew, or should have known, that the matchup presented an unusually high risk of neurological injury but proceeded because the fight served their financial and promotional interests. Hardy had previously lost a one-sided decision to Serrano in 2019.
NOTE: This is part two of Boxingtalk's coverage. Part one covers Hardy's appeal for contributions for her support, which has raised over $46,000. Part three will cover Hardy's prior lawsuit against differen parties for the same injuries.
After the 2023 loss to Serrano, Hardy was training for a $50,000 bare knuckle fight in 2024, when she suddenly lost her vision during light sparring. She allegedly remained partially blind for several days before seeing an ophthalmologist, who told her that the problem was not with her eyes but with her brain. She then withdrew from the fight and retired. Her longtime ophthalmologist, Dr. Anthony Curreri, concluded that Hardy had suffered multiple concussions resulting in cumulative traumatic brain injury and characterized the Serrano rematch as the “tipping point.” Serrano landed 242 punches in the twenty-minute fight, many to Hardy's head and face. According to the complaint, Curreri concluded that Hardy has a permanent disability involving traumatic brain injury, memory loss, double vision, anxiety disorder, spatial confusion, and problems with perception and depth, leaving her unable to concentrate and probably unable to maintain regular employment.
The complaint then alleges that Hardy suffers from chronic headaches, double vision, spatial confusion, tremors, vertigo, insomnia and severe anxiety. It says ordinary activities such as reading a map, crossing a street and distinguishing left from right are difficult and sometimes impossible. Hardy allegedly can coach at a Brooklyn boxing gym for only a few hours each day before her symptoms force her to stop, and she relies on prescription medication and Medicaid for care. Finally, Hardy describes as her formal diagnoses: a history of traumatic brain injury, vision changes, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), post-concussion syndrome, severe recurrent major depressive disorder, psychophysiological insomnia, PTSD and alcohol use disorder.
Hardy seeks more than $10 million in damages, including compensatory and punitive damages, as well as an injunction intended to prevent similar alleged conduct involving other fighters.
At this stage, the complaint contains Hardy’s allegations only. Paul, MVP, Holden and Holden Boxing have not yet had an opportunity in the litigation to answer those allegations, and the court has made no findings concerning their merits.
According to the lawsuit, Hardy's longtime promoter Lou DiBella opposed a rematch because of concerns for Hardy’s safety, as did promoter Larry Goldberg and Gleason’s Gym founder Bruce Silverglade. Hardy alleges that MVP and Paul nevertheless went around DiBella and used Holden Boxing as an intermediary to arrange the fight. Serrano defeated Hardy by unanimous decision in their 2023 rematch in Dallas. Hardy alleges that she subsequently began experiencing vision problems and was eventually diagnosed with neurological injuries that forced her retirement. The complaint says she continues to suffer serious and lasting neurological problems.
The lawsuit contains five claims: gross negligence, negligent undertaking, two negligence claims and violation of the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. The Ali Act claim is based largely on Hardy’s allegation that MVP and Paul improperly blurred the line between promoter and boxer representative. She contends that Holden was used as a nominal intermediary while Paul and MVP actually exercised control over the transaction, depriving her of genuinely independent representation.
Hardy also uses the complaint to sling unrelated mud at MVP. She cites the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight, the proposed Paul-Gervonta Davis exhibition, serious injuries suffered by Isis Sio and Shadasia Green and MVP's support for three-minute rounds in women's boxing as alleged evidence of a larger pattern. Those assertions are Hardy's allegations and have not been established by a court.
There may also be an important statute-of-limitations battle. Hardy acknowledges that she understood the extent of her injuries by September 24th, 2024, but argues that she did not discover the defendants’ allegedly concealed role in causing them until her attorneys investigated the matter in March 2026. She therefore invokes the “discovery rule” and, alternatively, fraudulent concealment in arguing that her claims were timely filed.
