'I gave everything to boxing and still have nothing'

With her near oculus swollen unopen and humor pouring from her forehead, Heather Hardy tells nan ringside expert that she wants to continue.

She strides backmost to nan centre of nan ring, thumps her thorax and shouts "I don't care, I don't care."

A adjacent 20,000-strong crowd astatine American Airlines Center successful Texas rises to its feet and lets retired a immense roar of appreciation successful admiration for a existent warrior.

It is gladiatorial – it is each Hardy knows.

Hardy, 42, has ne'er been a quitter and is not going to alteration nan wont of a life successful nan last minutes of her bout against undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano.

They meet successful nan middle, touch gloves and nan frantic action resumes – throwing dense shots for nan past 15 seconds of nan penultimate information – earlier Hardy returns to her area and erstwhile again hits her thorax while soaking up nan atmosphere.

One last information of all-out action follows until nan doorbell rings and nan 2 fighters stock an embrace.

The humor is still being wiped from Hardy’s look arsenic ringing announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr prepares to corroborate nan result.

Serrano wins by a sweeping unanimous decision. There is nary shock, astonishment aliases protestation from Hardy.

Serrano landed almost doubly arsenic galore blows, and it goes down arsenic different trademark gutsy capacity from Brooklyn-born Hardy.

That title connected 5 August 2023 would yet beryllium to beryllium Hardy's last travel to nan ringing successful a competitory capacity.

"I came retired of nan ring, sewage location and I had double vision," Hardy tells BBC Sport.

"I besides had regular concussion stuff, normal combatant worldly but nan adjacent time nan double imagination didn't spell distant and I was benignant of stepping into worldly and I didn't consciousness right.

"Long communicative short, it didn't get immoderate better, but I conscionable sewage utilized to it. It's for illustration thing other if you break thing aliases bruise thing you conscionable train done it."

A twelvemonth connected from that defeat, alternatively than enjoying nan fruits of a agelong career, Hardy is alternatively grappling pinch her inferior company, Con Edison, connected nan phone.

"My lights are getting fresh to get unopen off. I stake you [two-time welterweight champion] Shawn Porter doesn't person that problem," Hardy says.

Hardy and Porter are some erstwhile world champions and appeared connected nan aforesaid paper successful 2016 astatine Barclays Center successful Brooklyn but that is wherever nan comparisons end.

Financially they are worlds apart.

"I had this beautiful profession but it's for illustration they conscionable pushed maine backmost extracurricular nan obstruction and said 'just beryllium happy you had nan chance Heather, it was bully but spell fig it retired yourself', " Hardy says.

On 6 May 2024 Hardy posted a connection connected Instagram confirming that her Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) debut against flyweight champion Christine Ferea, which was scheduled to return spot 5 days later, was off.

Former WBO featherweight champion Hardy has ne'er been 1 to wound her lingua but location was a reluctance, a refusal, an unwillingness to opportunity nan connection retirement.

Instead, Hardy signed disconnected nan post: "So I said nan thing, ya cognize what that means."

And it is clear what she meant.

In nan months that followed aft losing against Serrano, Hardy had mislaid almost 30lb successful weight, was dealing pinch persistent headaches and was incapable to slumber - each symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

CTE is simply a encephalon information linked to repeated blows to nan caput and concussion. The condition, which gradually gets worse complete clip and leads to dementia, tin only beryllium diagnosed post-mortem.

"What I learned aft was that each clip you get a concussion a portion of your encephalon dies and you ne'er get it back, your encephalon conscionable goes connected surviving without it because it doesn't cognize what it lost," Hardy says.

"Over nan years I've mislaid truthful overmuch of my encephalon that I can't spend to suffer thing else."

The outer scars person agelong since healed but internally they linger and whitethorn ne'er disappear.

Just a fewer months connected from announcing her retirement, Hardy is still coming to position pinch having nan rug snatched from underneath her.

"That was days of crying, trying to understand, because everything I ever did was to nan max and now I person to discontinue erstwhile it gets difficult to prevention my life, " Hardy says.

"Wow, not fair. Give that to personification else."

Hardy cuts a dejected fig arsenic she speaks.

Sitting astatine her room array successful her one-bedroom flat pinch boxing instrumentality piled up successful nan inheritance and wearing heart-shaped glasses, Hardy attempts to make ray of her situation.

"I can't complain, I'm hanging successful location and connected nan correct broadside of nan dirt," she says.

Boxing became Hardy's personality and Gleason's gym successful Brooklyn became her home. She has poured her bosom and psyche into nan sport, but what has she received successful return? What does she person to show for much than a decade of blood, sweat and tears?

"The past 2 months for maine has been bouncing backmost and learning to unrecorded for illustration this," Hardy says.

She tin nary longer deed nan gym connected a regular basis, arsenic she has done for nan champion portion of 2 decades, and has been warned by aesculapian professionals that immoderate further beingness accent connected her assemblage could person superior consequences.

The lightest of workouts now makes Hardy consciousness nauseous – she recalls passing retired erstwhile her bosom complaint went up aft trying to jump rope.

Headaches are regular, her eyesight is still yet to return to normal, she struggles to slumber and seldom has an appetite.

Hardy would often coach astatine Gleason’s gym to gain immoderate other money, but her declining wellness has moreover taken that action disconnected nan table.

"I said 'stupid, you're not successful a wheelchair'. It's a hybrid emotion of high-five you made it retired but I still gave everything and I person nothing, " Hardy says.

"What is difficult for maine to grip is that I gave truthful overmuch and now I person to commencement complete again."

Hardy's way into boxing was acold removed from nan accepted path.

She had already graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice successful New York pinch a grade successful forensic psychology and idolised nan precocious Supreme Court justness and women's authorities pioneer Ruth Bader Ginsburg earlier she moreover conceived nan thought of a profession successful boxing.

Hardy knew she was a "powerful woman" but was unsure really to put her powers to champion use.

Trying to make ends nutrient arsenic a azygous mum and moving anyplace betwixt 2 to six jobs astatine 1 time, Hardy first stepped into a boxing gym successful 2010 arsenic a measurement to get a break from nan regular grind. It soon became a passion and perchance a measurement retired arsenic she strived to supply a amended value of life for her daughter.

In April 2011, Hardy, aged 29, competed successful her first amateur title and became nan US nationalist featherweight champion conscionable 2 months later.

After making her master debut successful nan summertime of 2012, Hardy embarked connected a six-year unbeaten run, spanning 23 contests and culminating successful a triumph against Shelly Vincent for nan WBO featherweight title astatine nan Theater, wrong Madison Square Garden.

She besides challenged herself successful nan world of mixed martial arts and competed 4 times nether nan banner of promotion Bellator - winning 2 and losing two.

A first conclusion successful nan boxing ringing came astatine nan hands of Serrano, a seven-division world champion, erstwhile they first met successful 2019 and she retired pinch an wide grounds of 24 wins, 3 losses and 1 no-contest.

Hardy achieved that occurrence wrong nan ringing contempt facing challenges fewer could ever ideate aliases would wish to acquisition successful her individual life.

"There was everything from hurricanes to homelessness and location fires," she says.

"We were connected nan thoroughfare pinch my parents surviving successful a religion basement, thing that could hap did happen.

"But I'm sitting present because I person religion successful God and I've walked pinch him this full path. It's a elemental thought that you locomotion right, you do correct and you don't look back. You don't springiness up, you don't extremity and what you merit will come."

Hardy has agelong been 1 of nan loudest voices successful nan room erstwhile it comes to highlighting gender inequality and salary disparity successful nan sport.

Despite her profile, Hardy still had to waste her ain tickets to guarantee she came retired of fights pinch immoderate financial reward.

"Women are making 80 cents to nan dollar, nan salary spread successful female sports is absurd," Hardy says.

"This is thing that women are perpetually fighting for, perpetually improving and look really acold we've travel successful 10 years from erstwhile my profession started and girls were not allowed to container connected Showtime.

"The guys would opportunity 'Heather I emotion you but I'm not putting you on, you're crazy'. Ten years ago, you'd deliberation it was 1974. It will alteration because of women for illustration maine who won't unopen up."

There has undoubtedly been a alteration successful nan scenery pinch female boxers getting much salient positions connected cards and pay-per-view events, though Hardy believes location has not been an betterment successful salary to backmost it up.

"Females are being put successful premier spots connected premier cards and told they aren't trading fights," Hardy says.

"They are being put successful nan champion spot connected nan show and being paid a fraction of what that spot is worth.

"I went retired and tried to show group 'look, women tin fight' but what I really did was opportunity 'look guys women will activity for thing and we'll do it doubly arsenic hard'."

With a family of beardown women down her, it is nary astonishment that Hardy has taken it upon herself to beryllium a starring fig successful nan conflict for equality.

Hardy says her awesome grandmother, Annie, was 1 of nan first female firefighters successful nan US and her grandma was nan first female to thatch gym successful Brooklyn.

"We ever joke that if my grandma heard maine show group I was Irish she would slap maine because my grandfather's family were from Ireland but she was from Scotland," Hardy says.

She credits her mother, besides a unpaid successful nan occurrence department, for helping style her.

"My existent begetter tried to termination us, went to jailhouse and my mum took maine and joined John Hardy who is my daddy," she says.

"A very beardown female came from nan ashes truthful I learned. It's successful my blood. We don't look back, we will locomotion done fire. I americium my mother's ferocious daughter."

With 1 doorway closed, Hardy is already looking to unit unfastened nan adjacent one, getting her manager’s licence.

As Hardy originates to bespeak connected what has been a trailblazing profession successful combat sports, her eyes ray up erstwhile asked to prime a highlight.

"I'm from New York City and Billy Joel is you know," she says. "I'm a mediocre Irish woman and we sang truthful galore Billy Joel songs. We each spell and spot him each twelvemonth erstwhile he plays astatine nan Garden, honestly for 20 years aliases so.

"When I made my MMA debut and I knocked retired nan woman [Alice Yauger] I had fallen connected my knees astatine 1 constituent and I was listening to everyone outcry 'Hardy, Hardy, Hardy' and I looked up and thought 'Billy Joel sits present and they are singing my name'.

"I ne'er fto spell of that."