kal yafai

[margaret thatcher]

just ko'd in 1 in the usa, by a guy who had 6 stoppages in 18 fights

time for retirement?

[jameswilson]

I knew full well this was happening too. Was gonna bet on him to lose but thought it was on later than it went on and also think the odds on the opponent were only 2.5 or something like that in the end too.

It’s happened so many times before to fighters stepping up in weight after quite long reigns. Reminds me a lot of the Quigg fight vs Jono Carroll for some reason.

[leejonesjnr]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

[Ruthless-RKO]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

He was lucky he was a world champion.

There was that one fight, unification which never came off.. but ultimately he cashed out against Chocolatito.

He was never world level. Euro at best. Nothing wrong with that.

He had a nice career. I always thought Gamal would have done better.

Let’s see what Galal does. Where is he anyway?

[SeanBrennan]

he's retired following this https://talksport.com/sport/1646591/wor ... mediately/

[SeanBrennan]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

He was lucky he was a world champion.

There was that one fight, unification which never came off.. but ultimately he cashed out against Chocolatito.

He was never world level. Euro at best. Nothing wrong with that.

He had a nice career. I always thought Gamal would have done better.

Let’s see what Galal does. Where is he anyway?

scheduled to fight on a Dazn card in US before xmas mate https://boxrec.com/en/event/878687, opponent coming off a loss to Sandoval.

[NoScoutingReports]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

There was that one fight, unification which never came off.. but ultimately he cashed out against Chocolatito.

I seem to remember a couple of question marks were hanging over Gonzalez at the time having been stopped heavily by Sor Rungvisai a couple of fights before taking on Yafai, who was unbeaten I think and looked pretty big in comparison to Roman but it ended up being a complete clinic. One of my favourite performances of the last few years I'd say, from a legend.

Good decision to retire and get out at the right time here I reckon.

[JamesPhilips]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

He was lucky he was a world champion.

There was that one fight, unification which never came off.. but ultimately he cashed out against Chocolatito.

He was never world level. Euro at best. Nothing wrong with that.

He had a nice career. I always thought Gamal would have done better.

Let’s see what Galal does. Where is he anyway?

I never paid much notice to him, but he won 6 out of 7 world title fights….. made 5 successful defences. As a Brit that must rank him really high statistically…..

Which big names does he beat?

[Ruthless-RKO]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

He was lucky he was a world champion.

There was that one fight, unification which never came off.. but ultimately he cashed out against Chocolatito.

He was never world level. Euro at best. Nothing wrong with that.

He had a nice career. I always thought Gamal would have done better.

Let’s see what Galal does. Where is he anyway?

I never paid much notice to him, but he won 6 out of 7 world title fights….. made 5 successful defences. As a Brit that must rank him really high statistically…..

Which big names does he beat?

Luis Conception?

I remember he appeared on the same card as Ancajas. As in they were looking for a unification match afterwards. But nothing.

[jameswilson]

He has announced his retirement.
34 isn’t too unusually young for the wee boxers.

There was that one fight, unification which never came off.. but ultimately he cashed out against Chocolatito.

I seem to remember a couple of question marks were hanging over Gonzalez at the time having been stopped heavily by Sor Rungvisai a couple of fights before taking on Yafai, who was unbeaten I think and looked pretty big in comparison to Roman but it ended up being a complete clinic. One of my favourite performances of the last few years I'd say, from a legend.

Good decision to retire and get out at the right time here I reckon.

Yeah Cholatito really made Childs play out of beating Yafai. I also remember thinking Gonzalez seemed to be much the bigger guy in there.

[margaret thatcher]

that was a great showing by choco, a fair number of ppl thought he was finished. odds were really close if i recall right. i remember graham houston was rreally confident in yafai doing it

[Ruthless-RKO]

He confirmed that he is definitely retired.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Kal Yafai content in retirement, rules out comeback

“No, I’m long gone, long gone,” smiles 2008 Olympian and former WBA junior bantamweight champion Kal Yafai. “But the good thing is that I look back on my own career and I think I’m content with it. You know, like I’ve done what I set out to do and I’ve done more than what I thought probably I could have achieved and that’s it.”

The retired Yafai, eldest of three boxing brothers from Birmingham, held his WBA title from 2016-2020 and called it a day with a 27-2 (15 KOs) record. He recently turned 36, but has no desire to return, making brother Galal the only one of the three brothers, including Gamal – who won professional European honors – still boxing.

Yafai, promoted by Matchroom throughout his career, remained amateur after the 2008 Olympics but did not turn pro until 2012.

His only losses came to the brilliant Roman Gonzalez and, in his last fight, to Jonathan Rodriguez in November 2023.

“I had a good run at it,” said Yafai. “I beat a good fighter [Luis Concepcion] for my world title and then, you know, I’ve got my first defense [against Suguru Muranaka] at home and I’ve boxed on some big shows, you know, [Anthony] Joshua-[Carlos] Takam in Cardiff [against Shu Ishida], fought in Monte Carlo, fought in California, Providence, all over… Abu Dhabi, LA, all over, so it’s good.”

While younger brother Galal is still a world-ranked fighter and a resolution is yet to be determined about his recent fight with Francisco Rodriguez (the Mexican posted an adverse finding in his post-fight drugs test), Kal and Gamal have focused more on their amateur boxing roots and both help fighters at the Birmingham City Amateur Boxing Club.

While Kal misses the adrenaline of fight night, he is content with his career and has little desire to box competitively again.

“Not really,” he said. “And, to be fair, I was one of them fighters that I’d be sitting around on fight day, all day, ‘I can’t wait to just go, yeah, we’re going down the stairs now. We’re getting picked up to go… because I know I’ve got everything in my bag, what I need. I’ve got my playlist ready. I can’t wait to get my hands done [wrapped]. I can’t wait to get my shorts on.’ I kind of buzz off all that kind of stuff. But yeah, I have to move on.”

And it has always been the case that he gets more nervous for his brothers’ fights than his own.

“A hundred per cent,” he said. “Way, way more. You can’t control it [their fights]. I get way more nervous.”

[jameswilson]

I think it's really tough for our guys at the weights below 122 to win World titles. The gulf between our British title level and World title level is obviously big at most weights but especially at the lighter weights we see it. I think in recent years guys like Jamie McDonnell, Kal and Galal Yafai, the Edwards brothers, Butler, Haskins, Hall, Burnett all did outstandingly well to bridge that gap.