Beyond The Ropes: Brogan Zima

Beyond The Ropes: Brogan Zima

Not every story in boxing is centred around winning world titles. Or even titles of any description. Sometimes the fight is bigger than that. Much bigger.

Brogan Zima turns 32 this week. Her life has been hard for the majority of those years. Incredibly hard. Eight years living on the streets. Different doorways the only protection from the elements. Battling many demons along the way. But Zima found boxing, and while certain battles are still ongoing, her life changed for the better.

Zima, from Consett, County Durham, initially walked into a boxing gym just to help with her fight against those demons. “I had got myself sober, and I was living alone,” Zima says of that initial entry into her sport. “I just went and joined a session. I never ever thought I would compete; I just went to clear my mind and try to get over my social anxiety.

“I was living on the streets from the age of 18 until I was 26. I got myself right, and I have been boxing for four years now.”

The life of Brogan Zima is very different now. An inspiring story that says anyone can come back from the brink. “It’s a different world,” Zima says of her old life. “It’s like the underground. A lot of stuff happens. It’s very dark.”

“I won’t go into the reasons why, but a lot of bad stuff had happened early on in my life,” Zima added when I enquired how she ended up living on the streets. “It ended up affecting my mental health a lot. What happened was so severe that I couldn’t function properly in society. It was easier for me to live in a doorway. I kept relapsing into a psychosis. So the mental struggle from that was already hard. I was constantly in and out of the hospital, and was nearly lost in the care system. If I wasn’t in a doorway, I was in a hospital bed.

“That’s why the boxing does so much for me. It was a constant mental challenge, but it is so rewarding when you overcome something. With boxing, you have to constantly adapt.”

“It was the thought of my dad,” Zima says of what drove her to change her life. “He took his own life, and that was really hard. That could have killed me off because there was so much trauma. I decided it was either going to break me or make me. Even now, I still struggle. But it was the thought of my dad; I just wanted to make him proud.”

In boxing, Zima has found what was missing. She trains out of the Foundation for Good Boxing Gym in her hometown. A Consett gym that gives her so much. Maybe everything. “The boxing club I am at now are really good with mental health, they support people who struggle. I do love being part of something like that. I suppose my coaches are like father figures. It feels like a family unit.”

Zima had her first fight last October, after a short break, a few more followed. There will be more to come. Every fighter fights for a different reason. For Zima, she fights for something a little deeper.

“For me, it’s not about the aggression; it’s controlling it. It’s about finding that balance, where you have got the craft of your sport, but you still have the fight in you. I am still trying to figure that out, alongside trying to master myself. A lot of fighters say it is not just fighting your opponent; the fight is within yourself. Align your mind, body, and soul. It’s a bit worrying because when I am not in the club, I can feel myself falling apart. But if you have a fighter’s heart, you can’t stop. Once you start doing it, it just aligns with you.”

Now that she has started her boxing life, Brogan Zima doesn’t want to stop. Zima wants to take it as far as she can. “When I first started, I never thought I would compete. Now that I have started competing, I don’t want to put a limit on it. I know what I am capable of. I am going to just go for it.”   

Everyone has a story to tell. Some are more inspiring than others. The story of Brogan Zima is up there. In many ways, Zima could have been lost. But she survived a truly dark, depressing period of her life. Boxing has its critics, and at times, deservedly so. But Zima is a shining example of what good the sport can do. She talked about wanting to make her father proud. Consider that achieved. And then some.