LAKELAND, Fla — Women’s Featherweight Bare Knuckle Boxing Champion of the World, Jessica Borga of Lakeland, has seen her fair share of battles in the ring. Still, she says her most formidable opponent was outside of it, and that’s mental health.
Borga has been fighting for as long as she can remember, but it hasn’t always been for sport; it started as survival.
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“I was in a lot of domestic violence growing up with my father and a lot of that continued with the relationships that I had, and I wanted to learn self-defense, so I got into the gym and the moment I started training for self-defense I’m like, ‘oh my God,’ this is what I was meant to do,” said Borga.
Borga went on to compete in mixed martial arts and, more recently, bare-knuckle boxing. Despite all the blood, bruises and bandages, she says professional fighting actually saved her life.
“It’s the most underutilized anti-depressant out there right now,” said Borga. “Any kind of training, even if you aren’t doing it for self-defense, you’re not doing it to learn how to fight, you are just doing it for your mental health, it’s so important.”
From anxiety, to stress, to anger, these are just some of the mental health obstacles Jessica says she has been able to overcome due to boxing.
“Your biggest competition will always be yourself, it’s that mental battle,” said Borga. “I used to fight the parts of me that weren’t good and now I’ve learned how to work with them, and I feel like that’s what made me so much more powerful and strong.”
In April, Jessica’s mental health journey and boxing journey came together in one victorious moment: She knocked out her opponent in 26 seconds to become the Women’s Featherweight Bare Knuckle Boxing Champion of the World. She’s even earned the nickname Black Widow.
“To think about all the things that I did in 26 seconds, it made all the hard work, the grit, the grind, the blood sweat and tears, literally, it just made it all worth it, all the sacrifices,” said Borga.
Now at age 36, Jessica, a loving mother and wife, is living her best life. She often leads self-defense classes and even started her own non-profit organization, The Widows Web Incorporated, to help victims of domestic violence.
“I’m very excited about this, this is a huge part of my heart that I am so glad to be able to share and inspire and help these other women,” said Borga.
Borga isn’t sure when her next match will be, but she knows she’ll be ready, because she has the strength to overcome anything.
“Working on your mental health its hard but it’s worth it, it’s so important and vital for anything you want to do in your life and the person you want to become,” said Borga. “I was not able to get to world champ until I started working on my mental health.”
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