When Ian Green lost his mom, he temporarily lost his will to live.
Lorie Brown helped her son through the death of his father, 46-year-old Ian Green Sr., who succumbed to cancer four years earlier. Her tragic death in a car accident at the age of 53 in July 2019 left Green grieving in a way he never could’ve imagined.
“I lost my mom when I was shelved, when I was trying to get my career back up and running,” Green told BoxingScene.com. “When that happened, I just felt like life was over. It was like, ‘My career is over, the love of my life is gone. … What’s the point of even being here? My number one supporter, the only one that was giving me the courage to keep going is gone.’ ”
The birth of his first son, also named Ian Green, and knowing that his mom wouldn’t have wanted him to give up on himself gave the middleweight from Paterson, New Jersey the strength to restart his once-promising boxing career the year after his mom died.
Green hadn’t fought since Kemahl Russell surprisingly stopped him in the sixth round of their September 2017 bout and at one point weighed more than 200 pounds. Determined to get his career back on track, Green paid $3,500 out of his own pocket to book a fight in Mexico, where he got a first-round knockout against a journeyman during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020.
A subsequent first-round knockout victory in Dubai led to a fight against unbeaten Top Rank prospect Tyler Howard in November 2021. Green (17-2, 11 KOs) upset Howard (then 19-0) by unanimous decision at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, which prompted promoter Don King to sign him in 2022.
Green, 30, will fight for the third time on a King card Saturday night, when he’ll face veteran Vaughn Alexander (18-7-1, 11 KOs) in the 10-round main event at Casino Miami Jai-Alai in Miami. The seven-bout card can be viewed by visiting www.DonKing.com or www.FITE.TV, starting at 7 p.m. ET.
“I wanna show the world that I’m not just the average middleweight,” Green said. “I wanna show that I am elite, number one. I’m gonna showcase my skills and show that I’m the cream of the crop. I just need the right opportunity and the right exposure.”
Green is ranked ninth among the WBA’s 160-pound contenders for its middleweight champion, Erislandy Lara. He is 5-0 since he resumed his career three years ago, including a 10-round, split-decision defeat of another undefeated fighter, Colombia’s Alexander Castro (then 11-0), in his last fight, which took place January 21 at Casino Miami Jai-Alai.
“Ever since I weathered that storm, I told myself if I could do this, I could do anything,” Green said. “And since I was able to go through that, and still have my head on right, and not get on any drugs and not crash out, that right there told me, yo, if I could beat this depression, because I was real depressed, I could beat any man in front of me. Because I feel it’s no tougher battle than mental illness.”
A grateful Green is inspired to win a world title not only for his two sons, but for others who have encountered debilitating mental health issues.
“Now my goal is to become world champion and show not only fighters,” Green said, “but people in general, no matter what you’re going through in life, keep pushing and keep fighting and there’s light at the end of the tunnel, no matter what. No matter who don’t believe in you, no matter what happens, just keep pushing. I wanna be a testament. I wanna show people that anything is possible. I really believe I have a comeback story. If a lotta people would’ve gone through what I’ve been through they would’ve gave up.
“I know for a fact that some people at home right now got the same call I got about my mom. And they wanna shoot themselves the way I wanted to shoot myself. They wanted to take a hundred pills like I wanted to take a hundred pills and end my life. They wanna do that today, but if they can find a way to turn the TV on and see my story, maybe that can change they mind. So, I’m not only fighting for me and my family, I’m fighting for anybody that’s going through any type of mental health issues.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.