The fashion designer the world almost lost.

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“The brand name ‘I Got My Own Back’ came around shortly after I overdosed on drugs and alcohol in 2011. I’d gotten into trouble with the police and was looking at time in prison. I felt like I was no good. I felt like I didn’t deserve anything. I’d lost everything that was good in my life.

“When I was in the middle of overdosing, that was the first time it came into my head that I hadn’t accomplished anything in my life. I was looking back at my life, seeing myself in the mirror… crying… and I asked God for forgiveness. I asked him to let me see my family one last time because they’re the ones I’d hurt the most. Suddenly, I was in this dark room and I could hear voices in the distance. My parents had found out where I was, I remember my mom and my brother screaming, and it turns out that when I could see them in the distance, there were two gentlemen working on me to bring me back. I’d died.

“A couple of days later a doctor explained to me that he knew I was an alcoholic. He said that it was now up to me to write a new story going forward; it was up to me to find my own path. I went home, threw out all my pills, all my alcohol, and I explained to my family that I was going to be a new person going forward. All I asked was that they didn’t bring up my past, that they didn’t judge me, and they were able to do that, because they knew I’d been to a very dark place in my life.

“A week or so passed and I’m sitting in my room drawing T-shirts and boxing shorts. I had to go through a lot of withdrawal symptoms, and I didn’t rely on AA meetings or anything; I did it all by myself. I was going crazy because my body wanted pills and this withdrawal went on for months. During that time, I kept distracting my mind by watching boxing on YouTube, I learned about fashion, and I continued to draw pictures of outfits that I would design one day. I told my dad that I was going to start a company and that I was going to call it IGMOB (I got my own back). The idea was to be in control of my life and my destiny. I would never be down on myself or listen to the opinions of others again. The company name was not about me being a fighter and beating people up, but I am a fighter in life. I also became a mentor, I help people today, attend conventions, and I’m a WBC Cares ambassador.

“I’ve been clean for over 10 years, and I’ve accomplished everything that I set out to achieve. Design for a movie? I did it. Design for the biggest fighter of my time? I did that when I designed for Canelo Alvarez.

“I fought growing up; I was involved in boxing and mixed martial arts from a young age. Fighting also brought my family together when we watched Oscar De La Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez, Mike Tyson, and those were some of the most exciting moments of my life. Now, I tell people that it was boxing that saved my life.” 

Javier Zinzun Jr.

Dedicated to the Zinzun, Paque family 10/10/20