By Carissa Diaz, Editorial Intern
Losing his father at 6-years-old from battling mental illness, along with his ability to read and write due to post-traumatic stress disorder was the tragic moment that changed Anthony Sims Jr. life, but made him into the man he is today. The 24-year-old professional boxer, also known as The Magician, found comfort in expressing himself and coping with the loss of his father through boxing as a young boy when he was unable to speak.
Later in life, Sims Jr. also lost his only brother to mental illness and sadly the same outcome in which he too took his own life just as Sims’ father did. The undefeated light heavyweight boxer of 18 to 0 and 17 knock outs from Compton, CA, sat down with students to bring awareness about the strong topic of mental illness hosted by the Male Success Alliance at Cal State University, Dominguez Hills on March 28.
The professional boxer, who fights American and international countries such as England, uses his platform to be a voice for children who are not heard and gives back to the community. Sims Jr. also owns Sims Boxing Gym in Indianapolis for children from tough neighborhoods to have a place to express themselves in boxing and working out.
The room was silenced throughout the event as everyone was focused on the humbled boxer as he gave them the real him with his life experiences. Sims Jr. told the students at the university that you must be able to express yourself to let everything out because it’s healthier than keeping it bottled in regardless of the negative masculinity trait that is given to men of color.
“I’m really big on expressing yourself on how you feel, man or woman, you can be strong,” Sims said. “[A] part of being strong is accepting … if you have an addiction or you’re slipping here and saying that … it doesn’t make you weak. What makes you weak is denying it or sweeping it under the rug and stepping over it and ignoring it.”
The Compton boxer spoke on mental illness and said that there are three ways to approach the illness: identify the issue, releasing it with another person and finding something you are passionate about. Sims Jr. said that most people deal with day to day personal issues and feel like the solution is to end one’s life, but that is not how you solve it.
“It’s not OK to take the easy way out. A lot of people don’t realize that when you commit suicide, I call it a selfish act,” Sims Jr. said. “I’m not saying it’s not true what you feel, but it’s selfish cause when you commit suicide, that’s just the beginning, you hurt a whole lot more people.”
Emotionally, Sims Jr. related his experience of his father’s suicide being selfish because his father is not able to witness Sims Jr’s life as a man to see his accomplishments in life, the family he’ll create in the future or even have a father figure. Sims Jr. wants to be that voice for people who are dealing with the same situations and to know that they are not alone in life.
“I feel that it’s my purpose to speak on that so no other little boy … nobody should feel that,” Sims Jr. said. “If I speak about it, if I fulfill my vocation, if I do what I’m put here to do, I can make sure that don’t happen.”
Sims Jr. opened up to the students of the university in a way that allowed them to feel like they had someone to lean on. The students then asked questions and before you know it the whole room had the undefeated boxer reaching out to listen to every attendee’s story that was shared.
“I felt that it was a comfortable enough space to unpack a lot of the experiences that we as men of color face and norm to keep to ourselves,” Frank Rojas, President of MSA said. “It was empowering to hear it from someone who was close in age and share a conversation.”