Mental Health for the boxers can be the longest and the hardest fight but it assures victory. In a sport where you are looked upon as a hard emotionless figure, it takes a lot of strength to open up and discuss your battles with the world. From 'The Baddest Man on the Planet' to 'King Ry' let's look at the list of men who proved that mental health matters.
'The Baddest Man on the Planet' once opened up on his battle with depression and addiction. In one of the episodes of Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson, he shared that he was in a dark place and that he struggled to handle fame. He said, "Having s*x with strangers because I had the power to do it. Go in a place and have anybody you want. Your mind wants to kill you, but it’s just happy with you being miserable."
‘King Ry’ was on top of the post his win after defeating Luke Campbell, but Garcia pulled out of his high-profile fight with Javier Fortuna stating that he needs to “manage my health and wellbeing”. During an appearance on Inside Boxing Live with Dan Canobbio he expressed that he had suicidal thoughts and "It was just that I started feeling more depressed and I kept feeling more like I was so lost, just lost in myself and in my mind."
The two-time world heavyweight champion Tyson opened up during the promotional event and said, “there’s more to life than being the richest man in the graveyard.” He went on to express his past struggles with depression, which led to a two-and-a-half-year break from boxing.
'Golden Boy’, has been vocal about his mental health battles and admitted how he used sport as a form of therapy during a time when mental health problems were rarely discussed. In an interview with Inside Fighting he expressed, “When I was fighting in the 1990s, 2000s, you couldn’t talk about mental health. You couldn’t talk about therapists or anything like that. All we had to do was fight.'
Garcia defeated Benavidez at the Barclays Center in New York City in 2022 and during his post-fight interview with Showtime Boxin he broke down. He thanked his promoters, team, and his family and further added, “I did take a break. You know I was going through some mental things. I felt a little dark. I went through some anxiety and depression. And I tried my best to stay strong. That’s it.”