| Billy Schwer BILLY SCHWER went through hell when he retired five years ago. He wrecked his 18-month marriage, squandered much of his hard-earned money with poor investments, ignored advice from everyone, said the phone stopped ringing and that people he had known a long time suddenly disappeared. But Luton's former British, Commonwealth and European lightweight champion - who finally achieved his dream of winning a 'world' title when he won the IBO belt at light-welter in 2001 - survived a turmoil he said sent him into depression and desperation. He couldn't find a purpose in life. For two years he lived wildly. Then he tried to get it together. He attempted to become a boat skipper, a yoga coach, personal trainer, returned to the building site as a carpenter (which is his trade) and even dabbled as a trader on the stock market. Everything Schwer tried left him feeling empty. "All I kept getting was, 'This ain't it'," he said. Then about three years ago his life changed. It's a long story, but a friend of his in Greece had tried something called Landmark Education, a life-transforming organisation that Schwer stresses isn't a cult or religion, but simply a place where people meet - talk to help clean the mind and soul. Schwer was interested, but returned from holiday and forgot all about it. By chance, when back in Lindos about 18 months later and having lost touch with his friend, they reunited and Schwer asked about Landmark. Billy's interest was renewed and this time he didn't forget to follow it up. He said he got home on the Monday and was on the course the following Friday. "It was a conversation for three days about being a human being," is how Schwer described it. "I got so much out of it," he said. "I was chipping away at myself for three years. It's given me the tools to deal with life." Now Schwer, 38, is up and running again, having found his vocation. The pain was all part of the journey. He is now a personal mentor and executive coach, giving talks around the country, but mainly in the city of London. His script is entitled 3D Methodology: the Science of Success and focuses on desire, discipline, dedication, doubt, distraction, disappointment, all of which can bring about pleasure or pain. Now Schwer says his life is about freedom, joy, love and happiness. "When I'm that, that's who I really am," he said. "And everyone has that available to them. It's about letting go of attachments." Schwer uses his boxing experiences to inspire his audiences. "What I do now is very similar to boxing. I feel the same butterflies in my belly before going out to talk. "You know, I'm scared of fighting and public speaking. But when I fought, I never used to think about the fear. I was programmed. I'd been boxing from the age of eight." Schwer has a six-year-old son, Jack, who lives in Yorkshire and who for the first three years of his life Billy wouldn't acknowledge. He said Landmark helped him overcome that problem and many others, too. He put his desire to fight and relationship with women down to one incident when he was a five-year-old wrestling with his two older sisters. They pinned him down and Billy, frustrated, couldn't force them off. In that moment he told himself 'I'm weak' and, subconsciously, that all women were out to get him. When he discovered boxing three years later, Billy realised this was a way to prove he was no longer weak. Yet when he learned about his son, Schwer's first reaction was, "She [the mother] is out to get me". "For three years I didn't want to take responsibility," he admitted. "I was in that space - as a fighter prepared to die every time he got into the ring. My judgements were clouded. But the truth was that as an adult I was behaving like a five-year-old boy. I sacrificed my relationship with my son. "Then I woke up and called his mother and apologised for being such a fool. Now I get on with him and her. He's a lovely little kid. I just had to give up the idea that I was always right." Now life for Schwer, who is single but has repaired his relationship with his ex-wife, has never been better. He is positively beaming. There is still some anger at how Stevie Johnston beat him for the WBC lightweight title in 1999 and when nothing was done after the American failed a post-fight drugs test. But when he beat Newton Villarreal for the IBO 10st title, Schwer felt relief, joy, excitement and satisfaction, even though he readily admits the IBO crown doesn't compare with the WBC. When he gives talks, he takes his belt, the gloves he wore when defeating Spaniard Oscar Garcia Cano for the European title in Zaragoza and a brain scan. People feel inspired because they can empathise with Schwer's story, each in their own way, and feel secure that there's a solution, a way back. "I get to grow, expand and feel like a champ again doing this," he said. "I want to empower people to be better. I love life with a passion. "I'm far from perfect. Actually, me and perfection don't belong in the same town. |
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