Grigory Drozd Retires From Boxing, Rules Out Ever Returning

[Ruthless-RKO]

Former World Boxing Council (WBC) cruiserweight world champion Grigory Drozd of Russia had decided to complete his professional boxing career.

Drozd had his last fight in May 2015, after which, due to countless injuries, he was unable to conduct a mandatory defense against Congolese slugger Ilungi Makabu.

The WBC in March 2016 appropriated the status of Drozd to "champion in recess" and gave the right to secure a mandatory world title shot upon returning to th sport.

Drozd had often discussed the possibility of returning to the ring to gain an immediate shot at Bellew, but he never fully recovered from his injuries and would often feel discomfort when he would make attempts to hold a full training camp.

In the professional ring, the 38-year-old Drozd held 41 fights, having packed in 40 wins (28 by knockout) with one defeat.

After stopping Darnell Wilson in July 2009, he was away from the ring until March 2011.

He managed to capture the WBC world title in September 2014 with a dominant decision over Krzysztof Wlodarczyk of Poland. And he also held the EBU crown after a TKO win over then undefeated Mateusz Masternak in 2013.

"Dear friends, fans of boxing, today has become a very important day. I made a very important decision for myself: I, Grigory Drozd, world boxing champion, officially declare that my sports career is finished. I want to say a big thank you to my coach Sergey Vasiliev, who was with me all the way from start to finish. I want to thank my second coach Vitaly Miller, my physical training coach Volkov Vasily, the masseur Sergei Goncharenko and my manager Anton Zhdanov," said Drozd.

"I want to thank my promoters - it's German Titov, my first promoter, Vladimir Khryunov, with whom we had three fights, and of course, the company 'The World of Boxing' and Andrei Ryabinsky - this individual gave me the opportunity to realize my dreams, to reach the highest step of the pedestal - I became a world champion."

[Ruthless-RKO]

Shame! He would have been a force in the division right now.. would have beat Makabu and Bellew.. entered the WBSS, etc..

[jamamb]

i thought hed retired a few years ago tbh. hasnt been on my radar at all.

[SenorPipino]

i thought hed retired a few years ago tbh. hasnt been on my radar at all.

Same here.

I was certain he was already retired.

But "rules out ever returning?"

We'll see

[Ruthless-RKO]

i thought hed retired a few years ago tbh. hasnt been on my radar at all.

Same here.

I was certain he was already retired.

But "rules out ever returning?"

We'll see

He would have returned by now though..

[SenorPipino]

i thought hed retired a few years ago tbh. hasnt been on my radar at all.

Same here.

I was certain he was already retired.

But "rules out ever returning?"

We'll see

He would have returned by now though..

Don't tell that to George Foreman.

[Lackeos]

i thought hed retired a few years ago tbh. hasnt been on my radar at all.

Same here.

I was certain he was already retired.

But "rules out ever returning?"

We'll see

He's like 38 and he's been plagued by an impassable barrier of injuries for years. He has also been inactive for 2.5 years, which compounds his degree of diminishment. So he's...
-Too old to be prime.
-Too chronically injured to be prime.
-Too inactive to be prime.
-Doesn't have his heart in it enough to be prime.

Plus, with every passing moment, he gets older and more inactive. So I think it's totally over for him.

Same here.

I was certain he was already retired.

But "rules out ever returning?"

We'll see

He would have returned by now though..

Don't tell that to George Foreman.

You can't use the most extreme outlier ever to be the metric with which every other boxer is judged. Like...
"Mike Tyson was god when he was 19 and over-the-hill by 21, so every boxer will also peak at 19 and be finished by 21."
"Bernard Hopkins won a title fight at age 49, so every champion will still be winning title fights up until they're 49."
"Manny Pacquiao moved-up 11 weight divisions over the course of his career, so every boxer will move-up 11 divisions over the course of their careers."
"Ike Ibeabuchi's prime was cut short because he went to jail, so every boxer's prime will be cut short because they'll go to jail."
You have to use averages to estimate the trajectory of a particular fighter, at least up until you have evidence that they are deviating from the averages. Most fighters start peaking at about age 26-28 and can no longer do what they once did when they are about age 34-36. This is the rubric by which you set your expectations.

Is there evidence that Drozd is the exception? Not really. Actually, he had his last fight at age 35, so he is likely to go down in history as one of the many fighters whose individual story supports the averages.

[Ruthless-RKO]

These European fighters peak in their 30's.. .. he had 40 fights. Took him a while to win a world title. Lost to Arslan earlier in his career. When he beat Włod, I began to look forward to some potential bouts..

Drozd vs. Bellew - mandatory fight
Vs. Lebedev, Usyk, Glowacki etc.

[Ilya Muromets]

I was just wondering what became of him and I supposed it was injuries. He finished with a record of 40-1, 28 KO's and had not lost a fight in almost nine years, his only loss. He came close to accomplishing the rare feat of retiring undefeated.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I was just wondering what became of him and I supposed it was injuries. He finished with a record of 40-1, 28 KO's and had not lost a fight in almost nine years, his only loss. He came close to accomplishing the rare feat of retiring undefeated.

Shame. He could have easily been in the WBSS mix. Was not a bad boxer at all.

[jamamb]

ive seen some rumors that wilders team got shook since deontay was kod by a russian cruiser in the ams, so they conspired to have him prematurely retired

[Best Coast]

Reminds me of another Russian fighter who WAS undefeated but inexplicably left the game at the peak of his career: Dmitry Pirog.

Anyone know whatever happened to Pirog?

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/325260

[Brute]

Back injury.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Pirog has been discussed many times on this forum. Shame really.

[bigman1968]

Reminds me of another Russian fighter who WAS undefeated but inexplicably left the game at the peak of his career: Dmitry Pirog.

Anyone know whatever happened to Pirog?

http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/325260

He is in the Duma (Russian parliament), sitting near Valuev -)))