Malachi Towns: Tamworth boxer finds his footing after dark period

Tamworth pugilist, Malachi Towns, knows the truth in those words better than most, having spent the last three years battling substance abuse and depression.

This dark period in the 22-year-old's life was initially triggered by unresolved grief following the death of his close friend, Isaiah Spearim, in late 2018.

"When I lost my best mate, that sent me into a spiral of depression," Towns said.

"Everyone was telling me 'Keep busy, keep busy', I didn't give myself time to mourn. Then all these emotions hit me all at once ... and I injured my hands. I had no outlet with boxing."

In stark contrast to his work in the ring, Towns is also a standup comedian. But as his injuries also left him unable to write jokes, he was stripped of his two primary emotional outlets.

"So I went down this path of doing drugs, alcohol. I just let myself fully go," he said.

After an initial period of recovery, the injury to his hands recurred and extended his layoff from boxing and, subsequently, his drinking and drug use.

At his lowest, he admitted that he was suicidal.

Though Towns' descent into depression began after Spearim passed, the memory of his closest friend inspired him to fight back.

Once his hands had healed enough to resume training, Towns put the gloves on again and decided he would make Spearim, who was also a talented boxer, proud.

"I went with a gut feeling and messaged Jamie [Carroll, owner and trainer at One2Boxing]," Towns said.

"He got back to me thankfully, I got off the alcohol, and ten weeks later, here we are."

In the two-and-a-half months since he went sober, Towns has fought twice, most recently on Saturday night at the Southern Fight League boxing card in Wollongong.

He won his amateur light middleweight bout against Isaac Moores by split decision, and dedicated the fight to Spearim.

"I wanted to get the win for my mate ... he motivated me," he said.

With a recent win under his belt, and another bout scheduled for May, Towns wants to "go as far as I can with it", and hopes to book a title fight by the end of the year.

"He can make a really good professional boxer," Carroll said.

"He has power, he has the physique of a boxer - he's tall, he's rangy. But more than anything, he's got that mongrel."

Towns' return to boxing has been accompanied by a return to writing comedy. He cited Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock as his primary inspirations as a child, and performed his first gig at 17 years old.

Now, five years on, Towns can't imagine his life without fighting or comedy.

"I needed some sort of outlet, and I wanted to do the boxing but I couldn't really do it," he said.

"Eventually I ended up getting into boxing, and now they're like my yin and yang. Without comedy I can't do the boxing, and without the boxing I can't do the comedy."

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