By Terence Dooley
Former EBU and WBC heavyweight titlist and British national treasure Frank Bruno (40-5, 38 KOs) battled depression after retiring from the sport in 1996 following a brutal three-round KO loss to Mike Tyson in the maiden defence of the belt he won by out-pointing Oliver McCall in September 1995.
The Londoner ended up being sectioned in order to get the treatment required to battle his inner demons and to come to terms with his divorce. Now, though, “Big Frank” believes that the worst is behind him. He recently told the Sunday Express that he has obtained a licence to train fighters and could make a comeback on other side of the ropes now that he has overcome one of the biggest challenges of his life by getting to grips with mental illness.
Bruno returned to the gym in order to get back into physical and mental shape after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act back in 2003 following a nervous breakdown. The 56-year-old was also hospitalised twice in 2012, but is now well on the road to recovery following the toughest battle of his life after being diagnosed as bipolar.
“Being sectioned, police coming down to my house and an ambulance taking me away,” he said when speaking to the Express. “What was going through my mind was shame, all the neighbours know what you're going through.”
“I can be stubborn. The first thing was me admitting it. The more you keep it in the more you explode when it comes out. So, if you've got something wrong with you, there are people to see.”
“I go to the health club quite a lot,” he added when talking about resuming his fitness regime. “I go there in the gym, use the sauna and go for a swim. I eat healthy food and get the right environment around. That relaxes me.
“Exercising the body makes the mind better. Always look after yourself, watch your diet. You go to the gym, get your heart working, heart rate up, you feel so much better. Physical activity can have a profound impact on your mental well-being.”
The former fighter busies himself through The Frank Bruno Foundation, a charity for young people, and he also revealed that he could take up the mitts in order to help young fighters come through the ranks.
“I'm not making a comeback in the ring, by the way,” he said. “I do have my trainer's licence now.”
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