5 days ago
Boxing-Double Olympic champion Lomachenko announces retirement
FILE PHOTO: Boxing - Vasyl Lomachenko v Luke Campbell - WBO, WBA & WBC World Lightweight Titles - O2 Arena, London, Britain - August 31, 2019 Vasyl Lomachenko during the fight Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo
(Reuters) -Ukraine's double Olympic gold medallist and three-weight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko announced his retirement from boxing on Thursday at the age of 37 and more than a year after his last fight.
Lomachenko beat Australian George Kambosos Jr with an 11th round stoppage in Perth last May to claim the vacant IBF lightweight belt.
The 2008 featherweight and 2012 lightweight Olympic champion wraps up his professional career with a record of 18 wins and three defeats, with 12 knockouts, after an amateur record of 396 wins and only one defeat.
He was unified lightweight champion and also won world titles as a featherweight and super-featherweight.
"I'm grateful for every victory and every defeat both in the ring and in life," Lomachenko said in a video message on social media.
"I'm thankful that, as my career comes to an end, I've gained clarity about the direction a person must take in order to achieve true victory, not just in the ring but in overcoming their old self."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
