BoxRec

Haye retiring at 31
Khan retiring at 28

Don't our top fighters want the legacy that the top Americans and mexicans crave? Are they smarter for wanting to get out early with there health intact and enough money to secure there familys future?
What's going on?

win a title, earn a potful of pennies, and get out with your brains intact is the theory i suppose.

it remains to be seen as to wether either fighter will actually do this yet though.

This is an excellent point. I think it's easier to say your going to retire than actually retire. But I think Haye and Khan are 2 that will actually retire they seem clever guys who don't seem as though they don't need boxing.

I can see Haye retiring, but for some reason i can see khan going far past 28, not sure why just a gut feeling. Suppose it depends what weight class he ends up in really.

I think people like Froch seem to live and breath the sport but guys like Khan and Haye seem as though they aren't that keen on the sport, it's more of a job. I may be way off but that's just the impression I get

alexpaterson wrote:I think people like Froch seem to live and breath the sport but guys like Khan and Haye seem as though they aren't that keen on the sport, it's more of a job. I may be way off but that's just the impression I get

I would totally agree with that mate,we have so many boxers in this country who are boxing nuts,passionate to the hilt,desperate to make the very most of there careers,now we have 2 top fighters who have put themselves in the big picture with the world taking notice,there in top form too and yet there both talking about leaving the sport behind.

Andypittcov wrote:

alexpaterson wrote:I think people like Froch seem to live and breath the sport but guys like Khan and Haye seem as though they aren't that keen on the sport, it's more of a job. I may be way off but that's just the impression I get

I would totally agree with that mate,we have so many boxers in this country who are boxing nuts,passionate to the hilt,desperate to make the very most of there careers,now we have 2 top fighters who have put themselves in the big picture with the world taking notice,there in top form too and yet there both talking about leaving the sport behind.

Is it maybe because they have so much talent, so much natural abillity ? the fact they dont have to work quite as hard to get to the top in the pro ranks because they get moved faster?

Maybe because they make a lot more money.

If Froch is pulling in their money he would think differently. I also heard him on ringside mentioning his retirement date, he's not going to stick around after super six and a Pascal rematch unless there's a really big money fight.

I think it's really tragic the way Roy Jones destroyed his legacy by carrying on too long, same with Holyfield. Hopkins should also have called it a day after Pavlik.

alexpaterson wrote:This is an excellent point. I think it's easier to say your going to retire than actually retire. But I think Haye and Khan are 2 that will actually retire they seem clever guys who don't seem as though they don't need boxing.

They both need boxing, can't imagine either would be anywhere near as wealthy without it for starters! I think Khan is around for ten years. Can't see him retiring at 28.
Haye seems pretty convincing though. Mind you, if he don't fight a Klit by his retirement date I think his mind will change.

Many fighters have given ages they wish to retire by. Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins are two that never stuck to them.

In an ideal World you achieve your goals and make your money and get out but often the best laid plans don't happen.

WelshDevil is right. All fighters say they want to be out of the game by (usually) 28 and then they hit 28 and they feel exactly the same as they did when they were 23.

crusader wrote:Maybe because they make a lot more money.

The point is that the biggest names in American and Mexican boxing can't be dragged away from the sport even when there shot to pieces and they've been making top money aswell
It's more likely that haye is taking after his role model lewis and khan after his role model naz

Didnt Hopkins promise his Dying mother he would quit when he reached 40
so glad he didnt though as hes had some big fights

folk change there minds its just sad when it gets a point that they are a shadow of what they were , Hopkins is the exeption to this and Glen Johnson too

WelshDevil wrote:Many fighters have given ages they wish to retire by. Joe Calzaghe and Bernard Hopkins are two that never stuck to them.

In an ideal World you achieve your goals and make your money and get out but often the best laid plans don't happen.

bennie wrote:WelshDevil is right. All fighters say they want to be out of the game by (usually) 28 and then they hit 28 and they feel exactly the same as they did when they were 23.

Great point. But it's all relative. People's ideals at a certain point in time and their eventual reality are often chalk and cheese. When I was 15 I always said I'd be settled down with a wife and kids by 21. Beard, pipe, smoking jacket, the lot. By 21 it was 25. By 25 it was 30. Am now 31 and have no plans to turn in the Oliver Reed style antics just yet.

TheGoods wrote:

bennie wrote:WelshDevil is right. All fighters say they want to be out of the game by (usually) 28 and then they hit 28 and they feel exactly the same as they did when they were 23.

Great point. But it's all relative. People's ideals at a certain point in time and their eventual reality are often chalk and cheese. When I was 15 I always said I'd be settled down with a wife and kids by 21. Beard, pipe, smoking jacket, the lot. By 21 it was 25. By 25 it was 30. Am now 31 and have no plans to turn in the Oliver Reed style antics just yet.

Derek, everyone in the world knows you are older than 31.

It's catch 22, retire early and sit wondering whether you could have achieved more or carry on fighting and end up like Chavez and Holyfield getting beaten by fighters who probably wouldn't have dared to step in the ring with you at your peak.

The goods, welcome to the world of "mid life crisis".

Only joking, agree with what say.

alexpaterson wrote:This is an excellent point. I think it's easier to say your going to retire than actually retire.

x2 :)

Crease wrote:

alexpaterson wrote:This is an excellent point. I think it's easier to say your going to retire than actually retire.

x2 :)

Isn't the fact that retirement is in there minds a bit worrying,I mean even if they change there minds there still thinkng those thoughts now and that has to take away some of the inner fire for the fights ahead....

i'm not sure if haye means it or not....i've seen it as a tactic to pressure the klits tbh..

tho say he does actually mean it - if he loses against klits then he sticks to it...if however he wins then the amount of potential monies he could earn from then on would mean he'd be a total retard to walk away.

rocky Balboa was the shortest live retirement i think

Announced it and then was goaded intt fight by Lang saying - "Hey Woman i bet you dream of a real man , why dont you bring yourself over to my appartment and ill show you a real man"

Rocky - "you want a fight lets fight"

classic

Andypittcov wrote:

Crease wrote:

alexpaterson wrote:This is an excellent point. I think it's easier to say your going to retire than actually retire.

x2 :)

Isn't the fact that retirement is in there minds a bit worrying,I mean even if they change there minds there still thinkng those thoughts now and that has to take away some of the inner fire for the fights ahead....

It's human nature. At the end of the day, boxing is work to them. Most people long for the days when they don't have to go to work.