14 July 2015Last updated at 06:01
1.5K
Carl Froch retires: Former world champion ends boxing career
Britain's four-time world super-middleweight champion Carl Froch has retired from boxing.
The 38-year-old won 33 of his 35 fights, with 24 victories by knockout.
Froch has not fought since he knocked out George Groves to retain the WBA and IBF titles in May 2014.
"I have nothing left to prove and my legacy speaks for itself. I'm incredibly proud of what I have achieved in boxing but now is the right moment to hang up my gloves," he said.
Why Froch will not be forgotten
"Fighting Carl Froch must have been like being pursued by a boulder, gathering speed through a tunnel. Most who turned to brace themselves got flattened. Some who ran got splattered as they grasped for the light. The most tenacious reached the exit. But only the fleetest had their hand raised after the trauma."
Read more from Ben Dirs on Froch the "throwback fighter"
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 live, Froch added: "It wasn't an easy decision but it wasn't as difficult as people might think.
"I turned 38 last week. My joints and bones are aching. If the desire was there, I could fight again but there's nothing motivating me.
"I've got nothing left to prove and I'm bowing out at the top."
Froch first revealed he was thinking about quitting last June, after his rematch with Groves in front of 80,000 people at Wembley.
Froch knocked George Groves out with a huge right hand in the eighth round of their rematch last year
They had originally fought in November 2013 when Froch won via a controversial ninth-round stoppage.
The former English, British and Commonwealth champion wanted to secure bouts in Las Vegas and his hometown of Nottingham before stopping.
But a clash with Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Vegas in March fell through after Froch suffered an elbow injury, and talks over potential bouts against 50-year-old Bernard Hopkins and Kazakhstan's Gennady Golovkin did not lead to fights.
Froch's only defeats in his 13-year professional career came against Mikkel Kessler in 2010 and American Andre Ward in 2011, although hebeat the Dane in a 2013 rematch.
He first won a world title in December 2008 by claiming the WBC belt in a points win over Canada's Jean Pascal in Nottingham.
In his first defence he stopped Jermain Taylor with seconds remaining in the final round when he was well behind on two scorecards.
After losing to Kessler, he regained the WBC belt with a points win over Arthur Abraham in 2010, before adding the IBF and WBA titles later in his career.
Carl Froch's life in boxing
Born: Nottingham, 2 July 1977
Amateur honours: ABA middleweight champion, 1999 & 2001; World Amateur bronze, 2001
Turned pro: 16 March 2002
Pro record: 35 fights, 33 wins (24 KOs), two defeats
Pro honours: WBC, WBA, IBF super-middleweight champion, former English, British and Commonwealth champion
Best wins: Jean Pascal (PTS, 2008); Jermain Taylor (KO12, 2009); Lucian Bute (KO5, 2012); Mikkel Kessler (PTS, 2013); George Groves (TKO8, 2014)
Froch vacated his IBF belt in February, saying that a bout against mandatory challenger James DeGale did not make "financial or business sense" and "would not get me out of bed".
Londoner DeGale, 29, called Froch a "coward" before going on to beat American Andre Dirrell to claim the title in Boston in May.
Froch has confirmed he will now work as a boxing pundit for Sky Sports.
He was contemplating quitting after DeGOAT called him out, when DeGOAT won the world title it was only a matter of time.