According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik has to decided to retire as he lacks the desire to continue his career and wants to preserve his long term health.
“When you stay in the sport too long you have health problems. That’s a big, big thing for me,” Pavlik said. “I’m not talking about now. I’m talking about in the future. I’m talking about when I’m 55 or 60. What’s gonna happen to me then? Why take any more chances, especially in that sport. It’s a brutal sport and you never know what can happen.
“I won the world title, I defended my title, I was champ for three years and I made good money. Why take the chance of medical problems? That’s a big part of it. I also don’t think the drive is there anymore. I’m moving on to a new chapter in my life.”
“I’ve been a pro for 13 years and doing this since I was 9,” he said. “I go away for two or three months at a time (to train) and I’m tired of leaving my family. It comes to a point where you just don’t want to do that anymore. I put my money away and then with the Ward fight being canceled, well, health and time with my family is more important at this stage, especially with no guaranteed big fight or date.
“I love Kelly. He did a lot of great things. He’s a friend and a great guy to know,” said Pavlik’s manager Cameron Dunkin, who is in New York because his fighter, Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia challenges for a featherweight world title against Orlando Salido in Saturday night’s HBO main event. “It was a great experience working with Kelly and I’m very happy for him making his decision.
“All the stuff he accomplished, when people said he couldn’t, when they were down on him earlier in his career and said he would never do anything, I believed in him and knew what he could do. I am so proud of what he accomplished.”
“I had a pretty good career,” Pavlik said. “I was 40-2 and I only lost to two of the best guys, Martinez and Hopkins. I’m content. It’s not like I got knocked out. It’s not like I got knocked out the way Manny Pacquiao got knocked out (in December by Juan Manuel Marquez).
“I’m fine physically. But I feel like why keep pushing the envelope? I made it this long and this far and I have had fights that were tough fights. I got dropped by Jermain Taylor, got dropped earlier in my career. But you constantly take punches and it all adds up. When you’re done, you might have brain problems, you might be punchy, you might develop Parkinson’s. Why push it? I don’t need it and my heart’s not in it anymore. So why take the chances? I’ve been very fortunate up to this point.”
“I know this — if it had been me who pulled out of the Ward fight, I would have been reamed. At this stage, I am just tired of the negativity and comments and a whole bunch of things. But I know people will think I’m drinking and it will be the first thing people go after.”
“I was contemplating it even before the last fight (in July),” Pavlik said. “Then they came up with the Andre Ward fight and I guess I got the motivation back. But I had been thinking about retiring and when the Ward fight fell out, that was icing on the cake for me.”
“For two or three years, she was telling me she wants me to be done. She said when I got to the age of 30, she wanted me to retire, so she backed it,” Pavlik said. “Her biggest fear was long-term (physical) affects of boxing. My parents are behind it. They always said if I am not going into the ring 100 percent mentally ready, they didn’t want me doing it, so they’ve been supportive of it.”
“As of right now, being a fighter and doing this since I was 9 and being at the level I’ve been at, I’m done,” Pavlik said. “Is out of the question would I come back? I can’t say that but then you can’t rule it out. But as of now, it’s legit.”
