Fighting for every breath: Boxing champ Mea Motu's asthma battle

World champion boxer Mea Motu almost risked her whole life in the ring, unknowingly fighting with severe asthma that went untreated for years.

The 35-year-old shared her story at the 2025 New Zealand Respiratory Conference in October, telling delegates that the moment she first realised something was wrong came while she was redefending her world title in the UK two years ago.

“I was really scared. I didn’t know what to do, but I refused to pull out of the fight,” she says.

“It felt like ice burning on my chest but I survived round 9 and 10. In my head, I thought, ‘I just have to keep going’.”

Mea had been boxing for five years by then, but the signs had been there all along.

“I kept getting puffed out, but I was stubborn and ignored it.

“The week before every fight, I’d find myself in hospital.”

She was embarrassed, so she kept it quiet, she says.

“I’m a top athlete. I didn’t want to talk about it.

“I kept thinking, ‘What’s wrong with me? Why am I struggling?’”

Even when she was prescribed inhalers, she wasn’t using them properly, she says.

“I struggled mentally. I felt stupid.”

It was her fight in the UK that forced her to take charge of her health.

“Up until that point, I was so stubborn, I was trying to be tough.

“But, in reality, I was living in fear. I was killing myself and I’d almost risked my whole life.”

The mother-of-five wishes she had taken her symptoms more seriously earlier.

“I didn’t realise you can die from it,” she says.

“It’s not ‘just asthma’ – it’s really serious.”