A man from Long Eaton has told how boxing helped him to get out of a "dark place". Conor Christodoulou has now set up a major boxing event to help people with their mental health.
Conor battled with his mental health and in 2020 he took up boxing. Having never done the sport before, he said it helped him massively as it "takes you away from everything".
"I found boxing through struggling with mental health myself," the 31-year-old explained. "I had a friend reach out to me during lockdown - he said 'have you ever tried boxing before?'
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"I had done bits and bobs with it but never took it seriously or anything. I got into that with him just after lockdown and it pulled me out of a dark place.
"One of the things that came from that was surely if it's helping me, it can help other people. You don't think about anything apart from boxing - it takes your mind away from it.
"You're just focussed on that one thing. It takes you away from everything - obviously after the training you feel great for it."
This motivated Conor to set up a major boxing event. It is set to take place at the Soldiers and Sailors, Long Eaton, on Saturday (March 25).
He initially set up the event to help people who are struggling with their mental health come forward and get themselves out of a dark place. Not only this, but sadly a number of Conor's friends have passed away due to suicide.
He added: "Over the past couple of years, since lockdown, I have had about six friends take their own lives. We've recently had an unexpected one out of nowhere.
"It's triggered it (the event) - let's get the ball rolling and start helping people. Let's get the lads and girls distracted from whatever is making them down. That's pushed us massively.
"It's amazing to see what we've done. It's amazing to see all the fighters who will be taking part - it wasn't just aimed for fighters, it was aimed at people with problems to come forward and pull themselves out of that place where I was at one point.
"It's very touching - every now and then, me and the organisers do step back and end up tearing up. It's very emotional to be fair."
One of the fighters who has been going through a 12-week training camp is Shaun Longland. The 33-year-old will be fighting in the main event.
The father-of-one, who lives in Ilkeston, bravely spoke out about how he sadly lost his younger brother, Scott Longland, to suicide in 2020. He will be fighting in memory of him.
Shaun said: "I suffered with my mental health since I was a teenager. I am a lot better now after changing my life around.
"The main reason I wanted to do it (the event) is for mental health. Me and my brother Callum lost our other brother Scott a couple of years ago now to suicide.”
Scott was just 27 when he died in 2020. Shaun added: "I'm doing it for him really.
"He was a really good lad. He would do anything for anybody - he loved fishing, he was obsessed with fishing.
"But he battled with his mental health for quite a long time and it really got bad - it started to get bad all through lockdown. We did everything we could."
Shaun continued to speak about the importance of talking about mental health and how much boxing has benefitted him and the other fighters. He said: "For me personally, it's helped my mental health even though I am a lot further along in my journey than some of the guys and girls.
"It's helped my mental health just from getting fitter again and being around other people and helping other people. You can already see a lot of the guys and girls who were really at the beginning of their journey, the change in them within weeks.
"They're opening up and talking. It's crazy because we talk about stuff we would never have spoken about years ago, really opening up to each other. I'm not exaggerating, this has saved lives already.
"I'm fighting in the main event. It's been brilliant - I'm feeling the fittest I've felt in years. Even though I have come a long way in the past four or five years, I needed another goal. This has been another goal to get towards and I'm going to keep it up.
"It's my first boxing fight. I heard about it from my brother.
"I knew Conor anyway - I've known Conor for years. I was kind of thinking should I do it? Should I not? Because I've got a four-year-old, I thought can I squeeze in the time?
"I thought 'no Shaun, you need this', this is going to be another goal. I've always loved fighting and stuff like that.
"I obviously wanted to get into it. This has been the biggest thing that I can remember for our community - it's brought so many people together. I cannot say enough good things about it."
The event was first made official in November last year. From January this year, a total of 26 fighters have been preparing for the night.
Forefront Boxing has provided training for the boxers. There will be 13 fights taking place to raise money for mental health.
Conor added: "On the day of the fight expect it to be an intimate, raw night. It's going to be in memory of the girls and guys we've lost.
"It's just showing the families that we want change within the community and we want to be able to tell people that there is help out there. And there are alternative things other than just counselling that will make people feel better.
"Obviously we are not professionals so we do have to be careful with what we say, so signposting is available within our group so you can go to see professionals. We only give advice on personal experience and that's how far we can go.
"We've got members doing courses - suicide awareness and self-harm prevention courses. We've offered courses to each one of our fighters to help pass on that knowledge to anyone else in need. On the night expect more fundraising."
The event sold out within minutes. Conor thanked everyone for their support and added: "In total we have about 50 local businesses all on board.
"They've all set up the costs of it. The public are raising money by getting raffle prizes and by donating to the Just Giving page. Thank you, all."
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