After the fight: Jojo Diaz, Tyson Fury, and the personal lives of fighters

What a fighter is going through behind closed doors has a significant impact on their performance in the ring. Jojo Diaz and Tyson Fury are two examples. 

Everyone has problems. They hit us at unpredictable and inopportune times, but we all deal with something at some point. The severity of our troubles impacts us in varying ways. The same is true for boxers. Jojo Diaz and Tyson Fury are good examples of how personal discord and resolution can affect a fighter’s performance in the ring.

Five months ago, Diaz was lambasted for missing weight by nearly four pounds against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. He lost his IBF super featherweight title on the scale and fought Rakhimov to a disappointing draw. It was a low point for Diaz, but his inspired decision win over Javier Fortuna is a redemption story.

Fury also knows what it’s like to be hailed as a hero and derided as a disappointment. He was on top of the world after beating Wladimir Klitschko for control of the heavyweight crown, but mental health and substance abuse problems nearly ended his life. He, too, overcame his personal problems when he beat Deontay Wilder for the WBC title in 2020.

Fury’s was a valiant example of reclamation in the face of life’s setbacks, but recent rumors surrounding his health and status against Wilder in their trilogy have people once again doubting his character and resolve.

Boxers are human, which means they’re imperfect and fallible. We gauge their greatness in the ring by the optics of their performances, their conquests in the ring, and their records. As a fighter’s success multiplies, we grow expectations. The weight of those expectations becomes gospel and oftentimes overwhelming or unrealistic.

People love a winner but have little tolerance for a loser. The public can be harsh critics. Unfortunately, empathy is in short supply these days. Athletes are put on a pedestal and seen as other. They are supermen and superwomen, but they’re human. Not many people see that, which is why they have such visceral reactions to athletes’ successes and failures.

Sadly, athletes aren’t seen as people. They are commodified, which makes the backlash they receive that much worse when they fall.

People were angry when Diaz missed weight against Rakhimov. He’s responsible for his actions, but when you hear later that he was balancing the stresses of impending fatherhood, managerial strife, and mental health problems, it’s easier to empathize with what he was going through at the time.

Tyson Fury and Jojo Diaz have had impressive redemption stories but also show the necessity for empathy in life

The warning signs were there that things weren’t okay in Diaz’s life. His DUI charge last July signaled that he was hurting on the inside, and he made the mistake of using a vice to try to fill the void of that pain.

Fortunately, being a father to his son Zenith and resolving his managerial and business problems allowed him to put his energy fully back into boxing. He felt good inside and out, and it showed as he outboxed Fortuna to become the interim WBC lightweight champion.

Fury has also been open about his personal demons. He told me back in 2019 that his mental problems were present all his life, but a lack of help dealing with them led to destructive behavior.

“I’ve suffered with depression my whole life,” Fury told FanSided in 2019. “I always had a goal of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. It always kept me on the straight and narrow path. When that goal no longer existed anymore, then I didn’t have anything to keep me on the straight path. I dived into a whirlpool of depression and anxiety, mental health problems, which wasn’t an attractive sight.”

Fury was rightfully praised for his resurgence after surviving dark days, but people doubt him again. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger was the first to report that Fury vs. Wilder 3 would likely have to be postponed due to a COVID outbreak in his training camp. Then, Dan Rafael reported that Fury himself had COVID and only received one of two vaccination shots.

Boxing Twitter went off on Fury after this news hit. Understandably, people are disappointed that Fury vs. Wilder 3 might be postponed. We want this fight, and we want it now, but you can’t always get what you want, as The Rolling Stones once sang.

Maybe there’s a reason to be mad at Fury. It’s possible that laziness or ignorance led him to avoid getting his second vaccine shot, but that’s pure conjecture.

In truth, we don’t know what’s happening with Fury, and he’s not ready to talk about it. If he wanted to talk about it with the world, he would. Fury is entitled to his privacy, as we all are. Let him speak his peace before flashing your anger.

If he does have COVID, then maybe we should be more concerned with his long-term health rather than if he’s able to box on July 24 or pointing a condescending finger at him for not being fully vaccinated. It’s a disease that has killed over 4 million people worldwide.

Many of the same people who rejoiced his second act in boxing and want to see him compete again are the same people hating on him based on hearsay from sources. Instead of tweeting him a middle finger emoji, try sending him a get better soon message.

We’re all capable of empathy. We just need to take a few deep breaths and the logic and heart to use it.