Until recently, Brooklyn’s Heather “The Heat” Hardy was the WBO featherweight champ, with a career record of 24-3 (1 NC), including four knockouts. She went 20 rounds toe-to-toe with the great Amanda Serrano. In 28 bouts, Hardy was never stopped.
Always the crowd pleaser, the operative word for Hardy now is “was.”
Her days of in-the-ring combat are over for Hardy: Her boxing career has ended and left her with a brain injury that has dampened her day-to-day living.
“I have tunnel vision, so I can only see like binoculars,” she admits, with no hesitation in her voice. “I’m seeing double and I’m nauseous. I throw up like 20 times a day. Some days it’s easy for me to just come into the gym and be everybody’s assistant.”
She goes to Gleason’s Gym to work with fighters, putting in seven to eight hours per day. Hardy used to train fighters; now she helps other trainers with their boxers, such as wrapping their hands. “It’s 100 percent family here,” she said about the iconic Brooklyn gym, where she’s been training and working for 15 years. “They make sure I eat. I have bad short-term memory, so I’ll forget to eat.”
While Hardy has a lawsuit pending against a former promoter, the New York State Athletic Commission, and a glove manufacturer, this isn’t a story of blame; rather, it’s about what happens to a boxer when the spotlight ceases.
“Everybody forgot about me when I was in the spotlight,” she chuckled. Hardy called HBO to get on the network for her title fight against Shelly Vincent, capturing the vacant WBO featherweight belt back in 2018 in Madison Square Garden. She lost her crown in her next bout against Serrano. She took a tough beating in that one and her last fight in 2023 was another loss to Serrano.
Hardy also competed in Mixed Martial Arts with a 2-2 mark, but no more.
The tough-as-nails fighter has nothing more to give the ring, having had to step away into the void of the unknown. The 44-year-old mother of one used to ride her bike about a mile and a half to work, but with her vision problems, that’s a no no.
Life after sports is hard for any retired athlete, although boxers seem to have it the hardest.
To Bruce Silverglade, owner of Gleason’s, Hardy is special.
“She means a lot to me personally,” declared Silverglade, who’s been at the gym for 44 years. “She started here as an amateur and she’s been with me, 20, 25 years. She won the Golden Gloves, and she won the amateur nationals at 125 pounds, representing Gleason’s, and went on as a pro.”
Through all of Hardy’s struggles, Silverglade hasn’t given up on her.
“She’s improving,” he said. “She was just flying off the wall a year ago. She’s getting medical attention and some assistance from the government. It’s a tough time and it’s easy for people to abandon her, but I don’t want to abandon her.”
Hardy hopes people will be able to help her through a GoFundMe account to support her and her 22-year-old daughter Annie, who is completing her master’s in education at an upstate college.
“She’s a successful young woman,” beams the proud mama. “Nothing ever bad happened to her. Her biggest problem was whether or not her friends had a doorman building. I wanted a spoiled brat and I got one.”
To help Heather Hardy, go to her Instagram page and click the link to her GoFundMe. Active since July, the fund has raised close to $40,000, with a target of $100,000.
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