Omar Figueroa invites Adrien Broner to talk about mental health

The road to getting back on track has not been easy for former world champion Omar Figueroa, who as well as trying to inject new strength into his career, has spent time addressing his mental health issues and becoming a spokesman for raising awareness.

In a sport where weakness is punished, Figueroa has taken his time to gradually work through the details that led him to hit rock bottom over the past three years. The American turned to alcohol to ease the pain which resulted in him getting a strong wake-up call in 2018 when he was pulled over for drink driving.

Now on August 20, in Florida, Figueroa will make his comeback against former world champion Adrien Broner for the WBC super lightweight silver belt.

"I'm not sure what the dance will be like, but I know people will see a great fight," said the former world champion, who spoke to the media during his training camp.

"I don't know how I will feel mentally and physically, as so much has changed over the last year. I've been through a lot since I was diagnosed with my mental health. It's been tough, and I've been doing this for 27 years and I'm very excited heading into this fight.

"We did everything we needed to do to be 100% for this fight, as everything had gone wrong the previous time and I started to question everything. Myself and how everything could have gone wrong. I spoke to my doctor, and I was subsequently diagnosed with all these mental health issues. That's when I realised that maybe I myself had been the problem all along. I've focused so much on working on myself and I'm ready to show how far I've come.

"Broner is one of boxing's biggest stars. He's outgoing and a great example of how important it is to deal with mental health. Sometimes he's a little off, a little crazy, and other times he regrets being a little crazy. As I said before, we are all human. I hope he looks in the mirror and seeks help to remedy it.

"Honestly, I was a little jealous of Broner a while back. His career was impressive and, like me, he was affected by some things. We all know things haven't been a breeze for both of us. So I'm trying to shine a light on mental health and make it more popular, and I love that my opponent is Adrien Broner, because he's a big advocate for it as well. I feel like he can make a big difference if he shines a little bit of light on it as well."