Canadian streamer Andy Warski "lost it all" and battled with drug addiction as he hit rock bottom before landing a spot on the undercard for KSI's boxing return.
The social media sensation was an edgy content creator who was believed to have ties to the alt-right, and after taking time away from social media he struggled with cocaine abuse. But he has turned his life around through gruelling 3-5 hour per day training sessions to prepare for a fight with fan favourite Salt Papi at The O2 arena in London tonight.
At one point, he admits that he felt suicidal, believing that his life was "over" and that he couldn't come back from his lowest ebb. Having attracted thousands of fans to his streams, he deleted hours of his content and took an extended break from the internet before returning with a less outrageous brand of comedy.
Warski's involvement on the card has given him a new lease of life, and he thanks a mantra that he used during training for bringing him out of a dark place. He faces an uphill battle against his Tik Tok star rival, who blew up on the influencer boxing scene after defeating Halal Ham in a star-making outing back in March at Showstar Boxing.
"I always had this mantra when I'm about to faint or fall and I'm done, I'd say 'life is harder than this,' and I'd repeat that," Warski told Mirror Fighting in an exclusive chat less than a day out from his fight. "No matter what I'm doing, life is going to be harder than this.
"Honestly, it was rough. I almost didn't get through it. I thought my life was over about four years ago because I was really dumb and did a lot of stupid things in my life and I almost gave up.
"I was doing drugs, I lost everything, I hit beyond the rock bottom, beyond it. But the fact that I not only came up to not rock bottom but doing this is beyond me, but it was tough, a rough path and I did it.
"Half of boxing is mentality, and honestly Salt Papi has been close to the mental battle that I've had. He's silver spoon, bro, straight up silver spoon and I've had to actually fight through that stuff, I have that advantage over him."
Warski was ultimately visited in his home by a counsellor, who convinced him to get back doing what he loves. He now hosts the show Kino Casino on YouTube with pal Ashton, and is one win away from announcing himself on the YouTube boxing scene against a difficult opponent.
"It ended up that a counsellor came to my house and she said 'Andy you've done this for ten years, you can do it again' and slowly but surely I started streaming," he added. "There were five people, then ten people, 20, 30, 40 and now it's in the thousands.
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"Some episodes have hundreds of thousands of views. We have a lot of fans and supporters, a lot of haters as well but I keep pushing through. Obviously I'm riling some people up, but that's what I do and I want to make this fun.
"Me and Salt Papi are so pumped to fight each other, we're excited. My voice is destroyed from all of these interviews. It's going to be tough for him, very tough. I know I haven't got an easy fight but I'm here to win and I don't plan on losing. Even if I do I know I will have done everything I could to try to win."
Warski at one point had tried to get into MMA fighting, going as far as to weigh in and attend a 2019 bout with Robby Pilkington, known by the screen name Tonka Saw. But the bout didn't materialise, with Warski claiming that his rival changed his name legally to get out of their professionally contracted bout.
"It was like five or six years ago I was challenged by this guy to MMA," he explained. "The guy actually changed his name so it wouldn't match the medical records, so there's footage of me coming out to the ring and talking s*** basically because he didn't show up.
"When it comes to this card, it's a dream. I wake up every day and feel like I'm still dreaming that I'm here with Sam Hyde and people like Deji and KSI - this shouldn't be happening!"
