Former WBO featherweight champion Heather Hardy has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $10 million against Jake Paul, Most Valuable Promotions, Holden Boxing, and Bryce Holden, alleging negligence tied to her final professional fight.
The suit centers on Hardy’s August 2023 bout against Amanda Serrano for the undisputed featherweight championship, part of the Jake Paul-Nate Diaz card in Dallas. Serrano won by unanimous decision, and Hardy hasn’t fought professionally since.
She alleges the fight left her with permanent neurological damage and that the defendants violated the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. Paul and MVP deny any wrongdoing.
The legal action comes just weeks after it was reported that Hardy had turned to public donations to help cover rent and basic living expenses while dealing with the effects of a traumatic brain injury, having raised over $30,000 toward a $100,000 goal. She’s said the injury has affected her vision and her ability to work consistently.
After years of taking punches for the sport I loved, I suffered a traumatic brain injury,” Hardy said at the time.
“The damage has affected my health, my vision, and my ability to work consistently enough to cover basic living expenses and necessities.
Addressing skepticism from some fans and commenters, Hardy said she has a full team of doctors and lawyers working behind the scenes and there’s considerably more to the case than she’s able to discuss publicly, asking those without access to her medical records to refrain from weighing in.
I have a team of doctors and a team of lawyers, very, very good ones,” Hardy said.
“And when I say a team, I mean a team. And they’re working very hard behind the scenes. And they wouldn’t have taken this case if I didn’t have a case.
“There’s a lot of things that I’m not allowed to talk about online, and a lot of things, bits and information that’s known behind closed doors that fans and supporters just don’t know about.
Hardy’s situation reflects a broader frustration she’s voiced for years about the treatment of women’s boxing, as far back as 2020, she was publicly critical of how female fighters were positioned on undercards and then blamed when those bouts underperformed commercially.
Within a couple of years, Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor went on to headline a sold-out Madison Square Garden, but that financial turning point for women’s boxing arrived largely after Hardy’s own career had wound down.
