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“Doctor Said to Me This Will Be an Uphill Battle”: Cancer Survivor and Former World Champion Billy Dib Makes Eye-Opening Confession About His Battle With Cancer

Published Jan 4, 2024 | 12:25 PM EST

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Besides all the opponents he has defeated, Billy Dib has also come out victorious against the most killer opponent, cancer. In October 2022, the Australian-Lebanese boxer was diagnosed with stomach cancer, effectively halting his boxing career. The 48-6-0 boxer’s doctor warned him about the consequences of avoiding treatment. So, Dib jumped head first into treatment, just like all his bouts.

Four difficult months later, the Aussie announced he was in remission, to the relief of all his fans. As one would expect, the journey to remission wasn’t easy. While appearing in a recent interview with Boxing News on January 2, the former world champion detailed all the things he had to go through to stop cancer in its tracks.

Billy Dib reveals that doctors told him the same thing they told his wife

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Speaking to Rob Tebbutt about his struggles with cancer, the 38-year-old fighter revealed what his doctors had initially told him. He especially highlighted his problem with how his doctor tried to motivate him the same way they had his wife, Sara, who had passed away in 2015 from complications with leukemia. “The exact words that the doctor said to me was this will be an uphill battle,” Dib told Boxing News. “He goes, but you’re young, you’re strong, and you’ll get through it. I said to him that’s such a protocol thing for you to say, and he asked me why. I said that’s exactly what you told my wife Sara before she passed away.” However, Dibs refused to let this get him down, as he said to the doctor, “But, just so you know, I am not going to die. Cancer chose the wrong opponent.”

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Later in the interview, Dib went into detail about his chemotherapy treatment and how he stayed motivated throughout the process. In particular, he talked about dealing with complications from the treatment and the effect it had on his body. “This chemotherapy thing has 100% of everything. It doesn’t lack anything; it’s the best at what it does, and what it does is it kills everything inside your body,” said Dib.

Billy Dib also added what recovering from cancer was like and his life after that. He expressed his gratitude to God for giving him a second opportunity. “He gave me an opportunity to restart cuz I actually feel like from the moment that I was cancer-free, it’s like I’m reborn again,” said Dib.

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Written by:

Sudeep Sinha

1,201Articles

One take at a time

The first time boxing captured my attention, it was because of a line I heard in the film 'Rocky Balboa', a film surrounding boxing. The line went like this, "But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
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Edited by:

Donna Eva