EPISODE 14: Mike weighs winning

He broke a man's jaw to go undefeated on national TV—and felt nothing.

Think Mike Lee’s pro boxing career looks like a dream? Inside the ring, yes, he was impressive. But outside of it, the pros and cons weren't passing weigh-ins.

"You wouldn't think that someone who punched other people in the face for a living would want to do a podcast about poems, but ... here we are."

In this episode of There’s a Poem in That, we follow Mike through the final bout of his boxing career—where another invisible fight was already well underway. What emerges is a story about more than sport. It’s about the addiction to intensity, athlete depression, the emotional crash that follows achievement, and the quiet ways identity can become tied to performance.

"I'm actually, ironically, an extremely empathetic, un-confrontational person."

Over years of competition, he chased the feeling that winning was supposed to bring.

But the highs didn’t last. The lows got lower. Eventually, his body began to break down in ways no one could fully explain—until a diagnosis of Lyme disease helped make sense of the pain, exhaustion, and confusion that had been shaping his career all along.

His retirement didn’t end the fight—it only changed it.

In highlights from 3 hours of intimate interview, you'll hear about:

• The psychology of high performance and adrenaline 

• Depression and emotional flat-lining after success 

• Chronic illness and invisible symptoms 

• Losing an identity built since childhood 

• Redefining masculinity, vulnerability, and fatherhood 

At the center is a quieter question: If you’re not what you achieve… what are you?

And what happens when you no longer need to prove you're enough?

This special episode, compiled from interviews conducted over nine months, is available here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In Time, Every Thrill 

-seeker (lows so low 

for highs sky high)/speed 

-needer/rush-crusher 

(waves always monster 

—and why?) thrills 

to meeker, milder pursuits, 

not because he’s weaker, 

but because the roots 

of wonder 

deepen as a man grows 

older, son, and soon 

he finds his sense of fun 

refined, in truth, 

by currents colder, 

sanctums graver, 

and minerals richer, 

for rarity and purity, 

than any ring or trophy 

traded for clarity 

in his youth. 

for Luca