Michael RothsteinApr 18, 2025, 08:00 AM ET
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- Michael Rothstein is a reporter for NFL Country at ESPN. Rothstein covers the Atlanta Falcons. You’ll practice him by the use of Twitter @MikeRothstein.
The footage at the wall of Heather Hardy’s small place of business within Gleason’s Fitness center in Brooklyn chronicle the previous champion’s 11-year skilled profession. In a single, she’s honoring her Irish heritage with a inexperienced combat equipment. In every other, she’s in warmup tools with purple Everlast gloves striking from her shoulder. In photograph after photograph, referees are elevating her hand in victory.
Now a 12 months into pressured retirement after taking brain-damaging blows within the ring, the 43-year-old tries to carry it in combination because the footage fan the flames of recollections of higher days. Then Hardy makes a speciality of a specific photograph that shatters her composure. It is of Hardy when she used to be 21 along with her daughter, Annie, then lower than a 12 months outdated.
“I think so unhealthy for her. I want I may just inform her no person’s going that will help you,” Hardy stated as she teared up. “You would need to do all of it on your own.”
She’s no longer chatting with Annie. She’s chatting with her previous self.
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Those are in all probability the toughest instances for the previous International Boxing Group featherweight champion, who has landed — and brought — greater than her percentage of tough hits. The wiring in her mind simply does not appear to glue fairly proper anymore. Quick-term reminiscence comes and is going. Getting off the bed is a chore. Steadiness is hard. Imaginative and prescient is fickle. Coaching opponents at Gleason’s, her primary supply of source of revenue, can also be taxing.
Hardy says she needs to assist reform a boxing-management machine that has left many opponents feeling exploited and does too little to coach them on good well being and fiscal alternatives right through their careers. The thrill of being within the ring and attainable for larger source of revenue too continuously distracts opponents from the caution indicators of debilitating bodily harm that may floor in retirement. Through then, there may be very little make stronger machine to again them up. That has to modify, Hardy says.
“I had a nostril that by no means were given crooked. No scars on my face,” Hardy says, having a look on the photograph. “I did not even know what my existence used to be going to seem like but. I assumed at that time that I had noticed unhealthy stuff already.”
Tears fall in the back of her red, heart-shaped glasses. Her voice quavers.
BOXING GAVE HARDY glory and a measure of popularity however at a heavy worth. Her hard-charging genre — being keen to take hits with a view to ship extra — helped draw lovers and promote tickets. So did her ties to Brooklyn and Eire, blended with a willingness to talk her thoughts in interviews. She added a flamboyant sense of favor at weigh-ins with colourful outfits, purple lipstick and trendy eyeware.
“She were given other folks fascinated with seeing ladies combat once more,” actress and boxing fan Rosie Perez informed ESPN. “No person provides her that credit score. She truly did.”
For part a decade, Hardy used to be one of the crucial faces of ladies’s boxing — dubbed the First Girl of Lou DiBella’s boxing promotion and a Brooklyn megastar with a 24-3 file. She reached her high simply prior to the technology of huge prize payouts that introduced wealth to present stars reminiscent of Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor and Claressa Shields.
Hardy made more cash than most girls opponents of her technology — she’s no longer positive her actual profession profits — however whilst an international champion it wasn’t sufficient to hold her via retirement. Her most sensible payday used to be $90,000 for combating Serrano, a seven-division global champion, in 2023.
Ultimate 12 months, a neurologist identified her with a nerve-racking mind harm after a 32-fight profession of too many punches to the top, concussions and different harm.
“I’m apprehensive about Heather Hardy,” stated Larry Goldberg, considered one of her former shoppers and promoters.
The previous 18 months have introduced erratic habits and risky temper swings. She every so often forgets to devour. Imaginative and prescient and stability problems restricted her skill to get round, even if it got here to crossing busy streets.
Marijuana and alcohol assist quell the indicators, Hardy says, in spite of the clinical group’s constant warnings about alcohol’s side effects on other folks with nerve-racking mind harm. On Friday, she posted on Instagram that she had returned to Alcoholics Nameless.
Tales like Hardy’s are common for males in boxing. Bruce Silverglade, who has owned Gleason’s for 42 years, stated Hardy is the primary appearing those signs a number of the ladies opponents he has labored with.
“I don’t suppose she’s getting higher,” Silverglade stated. “I feel she wishes assist.”
Hardy stated docs steered leisure to assist her mind heal. Her social employee prompt taking a number of photos day by day to assist along with her temporary reminiscence.
Hardy did not have medical health insurance when she retired. It wasn’t till September {that a} neurologist identified her signs. With few employment choices, she ekes out a residing coaching shoppers and opponents at Gleason’s.
At Gleason’s, Hardy stated, she discovered balance and a family-like sense of belonging — an break out from the bodily and sexual abuse she has suffered out of doors the gymnasium.
Hardy continuously turns out fast guilty the facility agents within the recreation — promoters, managers, athletic commissions — for her state of affairs. It is tough to pin her down on non-public accountability in relation to one of the vital alternatives she’s made.
Ultimate 12 months incorporated a few of “the worst months of my existence,” Hardy stated. “And I’ve had a existence. And it did not need to occur, that is the saddest section. As a result of all I saved pondering used to be: How may just most of these other folks no longer care that I may just die?”
Best: Hardy, now a coach, sits on the fringe of the hoop at Gleason’s Fitness center in 2025. Backside: Hardy the then-fighter sits on the fringe of the hoop at Gleason’s in 2018. Victoria Will for ESPN
WHAT HELP LOOKS LIKE is difficult. Monetary and clinical help are essentially the most pressing priorities, Hardy stated, however she additionally needs assist for a machine that has failed to deal with inequities in promotion and illustration, in addition to the pay hole between women and men boxers.
In spite of her present state, Hardy expressed reluctance to persuade others clear of boxing, pronouncing she believes it is helping extra other folks than it harms. She stated she’d select the similar profession once more.
“I am the primary one who has this terrible, f—ed up, s—ty factor,” she stated. When she reached out to others and stated, “Hello guys, it did not determine, now you must assist me … all of them became their backs on me. That is terrible. That is felony. It is diabolical.”
She singled out DiBella, her former promoter, for explicit grievance. Then there may be the New York State Athletic Fee, or NYSAC, which sanctioned maximum of her fights.
The point out of DiBella brought about a string of curse phrases. She and her members of the family criticized the promoter for what they described as a loss of make stronger after an extended and a hit partnership. Hardy stated DiBella introduced to arrange a GoFundMe, which she declined as a result of she did not need those that supported her profession to really feel obligated to present cash once more.
Silverglade stated that DiBella used to be supportive to start with and paid $4,000 to assist her hire place of business house at Gleason’s. However the bills stopped, in all probability on account of insults Hardy posted on-line about DiBella.
DiBella declined to remark for this tale rather then to mention he nonetheless loves Hardy and needs her properly.
It is tough to resolve who is guilty. Hardy made her personal choices. However in boxing, opponents are necessarily contract freelancers. There is no union, no league and no sustained machine of coverage. That has to modify, she stated.
“She feels that [DiBella should have done more] as a result of she’s on my own, then again there is no prison legal responsibility,” Silverglade stated. “Now you’ll say, what in regards to the ethical accountability? Neatly, the one factor I’ll say there may be she’s no longer on my own. Each fighter reaches this.”
NYSAC has no financial fund to assist retired opponents in want. The International Boxing Council supplied her monetary make stronger via a fighter help fund. Goldberg and others chipped in.
At Gleason’s, running shoes quilt her shoppers if she wishes day without work. In addition they order further breakfast to assist her counteract weight reduction. Purchasers have every so often paid for coaching upfront and introduced different monetary help.
Brit Phelan, a consumer and filmmaker, forged Hardy in her newest Kickstarter-funded undertaking, “One thing Came about.” Hardy performs herself as a coach of a bunch of feminine vigilantes banding in combination after being assaulted. Phelan helps Hardy create an appearing reel.
“Those are all of my very best buddies,” Hardy stated of the folks at Gleason’s.
Hardy’s sense of favor used to be a part of the draw right through her profession. Victoria Will for ESPN
HARDY HAD TO promote tickets for just about each and every skilled combat she had, together with $10,000 in tickets for her first combat. As Hardy received a following, call for rose. She was the primary feminine to signal a long-term maintain DiBella.
She hawked tickets on the gymnasium, across the community and in native bars. Gleason’s bought blocks of seats.
She took Annie to college and labored at Gleason’s within the morning. If her upcoming combat used to be at Barclays Middle in Brooklyn, she would knock out day by day aerobic through working in a plastic warmup go well with to the venue. Then she picked up $10,000 in tickets on consignment, wrapped them in plastic Ziploc baggage for defense and ran again to Gleason’s.
She arranged seating charts and made positive her relatives sat in combination. Her sister helped gather cash. Hardy every so often ready will-call envelopes herself — closing title, then first title — and dropped them off on the field place of business on combat night time.
“I used to mention I used to be a part-time fighter,” Hardy stated. “And a part-time price ticket dealer.”
Her skill to promote and draw a crowd increased her native famous person. She were given an Everlast sponsorship. But she struggled to transport up the cardboard.
A 2015 combat at Barclays Middle carried a specific sting. She had presold hundreds of greenbacks in tickets. However on combat night time, she fought early at the card. The bout began prior to the doorways even opened. Fanatics, buddies and members of the family could not get in.
“Lady on Hearth,” Hardy’s theme tune, echoed during the corridor as she entered. However no crowd. No cheering. She gained the combat however by no means forgot the embarrassment. She stated a potential sponsor pulled out on account of it.
“You felt unhealthy,” stated Perez, talking of a separate example of Hardy combating early at the card. Perez stated she started appearing up early for Hardy’s fights. “There used to be no person. It used to be sparse. It used to be nerve-racking. It used to be very, very nerve-racking.”
In 2018, Hardy stated, she drunk-dialed an HBO government and driven to get her fetherweight name combat on TV. Sooner than that gigantic target audience, she gained her International Boxing Group name through defeating Shelly Vincent. She slept at the sofa that night time, in her one-bedroom condominium, her belt at the desk subsequent to her. Annie were given the mattress to herself.
Funds, partially because of pay construction and partially because of her personal alternatives, have been at all times a subject matter. In 2017-18, she left boxing to combat MMA searching for larger paydays. Had she made sufficient cash, she says now, she may have walked away after successful the WBO name.
Silverglade stated he spotted Hardy slowing down and attempted to speak her out of fights. “It used to be like chatting with a wall,” Silverglade stated. “As a result of she wanted the cash.”
A mixture of pleasure and fiscal lack of confidence saved her going she misplaced her name to Serrano in 2019. She returned post-pandemic in 2021, shedding to Jessica Camara in Tennessee. She stated her courting with DiBella then started to bitter. Goldberg and DiBella collaborated on her subsequent two fights. Then she fought Serrano once more.
“It is like a nasty boyfriend,” Hardy stated. “It is true. Regardless of how again and again boxing breaks your coronary heart, I nonetheless return. MMA used to be just like the boyfriend who had cash and a just right activity. And I nonetheless went again to boxing, looking to make it proper.”
The streets of Hardy’s Brooklyn continuously turn out a problem given the ex-fighter’s imaginative and prescient and stability issues. Victoria Will for ESPN
A LITTLE AFTER 7 a.m. on a hectic Tuesday closing month, Hardy confirmed up at Gleason’s dressed in white glasses, a white unitard, lengthy red socks and hairy sandals. This has been a just right morning. The insomnia, complications, shakes and different signs had dissipated sufficient to let her paintings.
Hardy says her peripheral imaginative and prescient is deficient. Hardy’s imaginative and prescient and mind harm make bodily touch unhealthy, maintaining her from sparring and restricting her skill to make use of punching mitts. She has her shoppers take jabs at foam noodle sticks. She in most cases works for approximately 4 hours prior to the fatigue turns into an excessive amount of.
Underneath a banner pronouncing Gleason’s because the “House of International WBO Champion Featherweight Heather The Warmth Hardy,” she laces up her first shopper’s gloves.
Between three-minute rounds of labor, she asks them about existence, faculty and spring destroy. She perspectives her activity as part-therapist, part-friend, part-trainer. Purchasers informed ESPN they consider Hardy has made a distinction of their boxing skills and their lives.
Hardy strikes from one ring to every other to test on shoppers. She pauses to smoke marijuana out of doors, which she says is helping alleviate her ache and face-twitching.
In the course of one coaching consultation, Hardy sits down, dizzy. Her frame temperature plummets. Immediately, she begins to sweat, takes to the air her glasses and leaves her telephone at the aspect of the hoop. She heads to the toilet to vomit — a day by day incidence.
It is 7:48 a.m.
Hardy places at the gloves for display, despite the fact that nerve-racking mind harm way she will not chance an inadvertent blow to the top whilst coaching shoppers at Gleason’s. Victoria Will for ESPN
HARDY ABSORBED 278 punches towards Serrano of their 2023 combat in Texas, together with an astronomical 242 energy punches in 20 mins. She misplaced through unanimous determination in a combat that wasn’t shut. Hardy used to be in tears in a while. Serrano had not anything however reward for her longtime buddy and sparring spouse.
“Heather is a hell of a fighter,” Serrano stated that night time. “She’s as difficult as they arrive.”
Serrano stated she gave Hardy the combat to safe every other payday and exhibit for her buddy.
Seniesa Estrada, a now-retired global champion, visited after the combat to congratulate her. “It is in truth inspiring, how a lot braveness she has, win or lose.”
Estrada stated she idea it could be Hardy’s closing combat. Family and friends was hoping it used to be. Hardy wasn’t positive. She had expenses to pay. However something used to be obtrusive on the time, she stated: Her imaginative and prescient and her mind did not really feel proper.
Hardy’s mom, Linda, stated she had observed her daughter take punishment prior to. However Heather would not inform her mother, a nurse, the entirety. This time, she used to be truthful. She complained of double imaginative and prescient, a loss of peripheral imaginative and prescient and dizziness.
Linda stated she did not need her daughter to fly house for concern of a blood clot or undiagnosed ailment, providing to power Heather again to New York. Days later, nonetheless in Texas along with her then-boyfriend’s relatives, Hardy referred to as to inform her mom that she used to be within the emergency room, identified with post-concussion signs. She could not combat for 6 months.
As soon as again in New York, dizziness made coaching inconceivable. She started having seizures. A mixture of stubbornness and loss of medical health insurance saved her from looking for remedy. Her weight reduction used to be evident.
“Clearly, it used to be greater than only a concussion,” stated Ronica Jeffrey, her buddy and fellow fighter.
HARDY WAS DESPERATE for cash after being out of the hoop. In early 2024, she used to be introduced $50,000 for a Naked Knuckle Battle Membership bout closing Would possibly. It incorporated a $10,000 advance. Glory days long gone, she accredited it as a purely monetary determination.
Mates advised her to drag out. “You might have a child. You might have different issues that you want to reside for, however this ain’t it,” Jeffrey stated. “… That should not be your tale: You demise within the ring since you felt such as you wanted this factor.”
After days of no longer regaining her imaginative and prescient after gentle sparring, she after all noticed a health care provider. Dr. Anthony Curreri, her ophthalmologist, informed her the issue wasn’t simply along with her eyes — it used to be her mind.
To the comfort of her confidants, Hardy determined to retire straight away.
The months after have been full of confusion as she sought a deeper analysis and medical health insurance whilst beginning to ask for monetary help.
“There’s no machine for her to visit rather then the goodwill of the WBC, however there may be 6,000 boxers in the market,” Goldberg stated. “And there may be 0 to give protection to anyone like a Heather Hardy. Or any of those opponents.”
Hardy in the end secured Medicaid protection in September after having a seizure right through a discuss with to NYU Langone Clinical Middle. It made neurological trying out reasonably priced. Her analysis: post-concussion syndrome, nerve-racking mind accidents, a recurrent main depressive dysfunction and insomnia. That helped provide an explanation for her reminiscence loss.
After all, Hardy gained the assist her family and friends had begged her to hunt. She has remedy appointments on Tuesdays, common conferences with neurologists and sees a psychiatrist per 30 days. Get entry to-A-Journey used to be set as much as commute her to docs and, in the end, paintings.
“I had … broken portions that may by no means go back,” Hardy stated. “Which is terrifying to listen to that you’ve got misplaced items of your mind and you do not know what they’re and you can by no means take note. And they do not know how you can let you know to mend it.”
Her days within the ring are over, however Hardy says she nonetheless needs to combat for higher clinical and insurance coverage protections for all boxers. Victoria Will for ESPN
HARDY STARTED BOXING later than maximum high-level pros. She had graduated from the John Jay Faculty of Felony Justice in 2005 with a forensic psychology level, strolling to get her degree with Annie in her hands.
Sooner than Annie’s beginning, she had thought to be making use of for a role with the FBI or different regulation enforcement companies. Now with a kid, that not gave the impression imaginable. Then, in 2010, bother evolved in her marriage.
Her sister purchased her kickboxing categories as a present. When she walked into the primary gymnasium, it clicked. Hardy stated she used to be intended to combat.
Hardy gained beginner kickboxing competitions and in the end became to boxing, resulting in victory on the 2011 nationals at 125 kilos. After turning skilled, she stated she labored six jobs to pay the expenses.
Hardy stated Annie at all times got here first. She sacrificed a few of her personal monetary well-being — every so often residing out of doors her way — to verify her daughter had a just right schooling and the entirety she sought after. She paid for many of Annie’s faculty tuition.
Folks with regards to Hardy stated monetary leadership wasn’t at all times her sturdy level. Her alternatives of boyfriends additionally did not assist, particularly in the event that they added to the bodily and fiscal misery.
Given her fragile situation and every so often violent home scenarios, Hardy stated she had to select: “I am both going to combat for my existence at the moment” or tolerate abuse and put her personal survival in danger.
Hardy says her subsequent combat is to assist different abused ladies and marketing campaign for progressed coverage of all opponents — prolonged insurance plans, extra complete prefight physicals, union-style illustration and higher schooling on boxers’ rights and assets. Her makes an attempt to enlist the New York Town mayor’s place of business have, up to now, yielded minimum effects.
A town corridor spokesperson stated, “We make stronger [Hardy’s] ongoing efforts and are these days reviewing the New York State Boxing Invoice to resolve whether or not any adjustments or expansions could also be suitable to suggest for.”
Perez credited Hardy with pushing for the developments that at the moment are reaping benefits ladies in boxing, even supposing she did not see as a lot get advantages herself.
“I’d say [to her] I see you and what you probably did for boxing,” Perez stated. “I noticed what you probably did for girls. You made other folks take note of ladies and I need to shake your hand for that. … And after all, I’d say I am more than pleased that you’re retired. And simply know that you simply do have lovers nonetheless.”
