BoxRec

Saw it coming to be fair..

Had a good run. Held a world title.

Hopefully he has earned enough not to work again

Lee Selby: Former world champion retires

Lee Selby, Wales' 12th and most recent world champion boxer, has announced his retirement from the sport.

The 35-year-old made the announcement on social media in the wake of his defeat to Gustavo Lemos in Argentina last month, the first time in his career he had lost by stoppage.

Selby held the world IBF featherweight title from 2015 to 2018.

"I exit the ring with no regrets, happy, healthy and my family financially secure," he wrote.

Selby has called time on a professional career which spanned 14 years, having made his debut in 2008 on a small hall show in Newport against Sid Razak.

He won Celtic and Welsh titles before his first notable career victory saw him upset Stephen Smith in 2011 in Liverpool to win the Commonwealth featherweight title.

Another notable away-day victory saw Selby beat Martin Lindsey in Belfast in 2013 to capture the British title and edge towards a world title opportunity.

That eventually - and perhaps belatedly - came in 2015 when Selby stopped the unbeaten Evgeny Gradovich to become IBF featherweight world champion.

The Barry-boxer successfully defended his title five times before losing it to Josh Warrington in a stadium fight at Leeds' Elland Road.

Selby won his next two fights, but suffered a contentious split-decision defeat to George Kambosos, who went on to beat Teofimo Lopez to become lightweight world champion.

Selby's last fight was an eliminator for another shot at Kambosos, but he was stopped by Lemos.

"After 27 years as an amateur and professional boxer, I know the time is right for me to hang up the gloves," Selby wrote in a statement.

"Being raised on the council estate in Barry, south Wales, you learn early on about adversity. For many young people the burden of growing up in poverty takes its toll, but boxing saved me more than I ever thought possible."

Selby admits he had to work hard to reach the levels he did, especially as he was not the most talented member of his family, with his brother Andrew also boxing professionally.

"I am forever grateful to my mum and dad who took me and my brothers to Rhoose Amateur Boxing Club and Craig Smyth who always supported me. I had around 90 amateur contests, but it was my brother Andrew who was the star attraction for the Selby family in the amateurs," he added.

"I had to do things the hard way, going the traditional route winning every possible title along the way including the Welsh, Celtic, British, Commonwealth, European and IBF world title. I won the Lonsdale belt outright and successfully defended my world title on five occasions.

"Of my 32 professional contests, 22 of those bouts were either title fights or 12-round contests. I am proud to be the 12th Welshman to win a world title and my name will now forever sit in the record books alongside those great fighters. When I look back on my career, I have realised everything I set out to achieve.

"My biggest thank you goes to all my fans, your support over the years has been incredible. I exit the ring with no regrets, happy, healthy and with my family financially secure. Boxing has been my life and I am sure my involvement in the sport will continue in the years to come as I look to set new goals."

I like Selby,decent fella,good luck to him

Agreed - assuming he's correct when he says he's made enough to make his family financially secure (no reason to doubt him), he can enjoy a happy retirement.

Congratulations Lee on a fantastic career and great decision to retire now.

Very happy to hear he is financially secure. Im sure he’d be a great addition to any boxing team.

Well done Lee Selby and thanks for some great memories: he was on a right tear on his way up at featherweight.

Coco wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 05:33 Hopefully he has earned enough not to work again

He's in property....

Good boxer whose achievements in the ring surpassed what I thought he would be capable of.

Bagged the complete set of titles so Selby should be very proud of himself.

He went down fighting in his last loss and is making the correct decision to call it a day

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 06:30 "Of my 32 professional contests, 22 of those bouts were either title fights or 12-round contests.

that is impressive

Counter-puncher wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 10:41

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 06:30 "Of my 32 professional contests, 22 of those bouts were either title fights or 12-round contests.

that is impressive

Shows he didn't waste time fighting nobodies, building up a record.

Whilst Selby achieved loads in his career and I think he’s retiring at the right time, I think he missed out on maximising his potential when he was really in his prime at Featherweight in the 3 years between winning the IBF and facing Warrington. He wasn’t active enough and he didn’t really fight the top guys in the world which is a shame as I think he’d have been a tough fight for anyone.

I wish all the best in his life post boxing and hope he’s comfortable without needing to work again.

Reportedly made $600,000 for the Montiel fight in Phoenix.

Hopefully he’s a made man now. Lacked power at the top level but was very skilful. Steve Smith KO sticks in my head when thinking about him.

The KO win over Smith was when he really announced himself as a serious player, certainly on the domestic scene. Until then, Selby's win over Ben Jones was still fresh in my mind and I thought Lee had been a shade fortunate to get the nod.

jameswilson wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 11:38 Reportedly made $600,000 for the Montiel fight in Phoenix.

Hopefully he’s a made man now. Lacked power at the top level but was very skilful. Steve Smith KO sticks in my head when thinking about him.

What was that in GBP back then?

tax/expenses etc.

TBF, he was world champion for a while, if you add up all the pay days and depending on when he entered the property market, I think he should be ok hopefully.

Selby never had the big backing on the way up, Chris Sanigar brought him through on the small hall shows, which is the hard way.

another boxing property king

Took the hard route via small halls etc. Earned the full set of titles right up to world champ. A decent slickster who could occasionally dig as opponents tired. All in all a great career and its the right time to retire, faculties still intact and not the sort who should become a gatekeeper for the younger pups coming through. Thanks for the memories Lee.

THEBUTCH wrote: ↑05 Apr 2022, 10:36 Good boxer whose achievements in the ring surpassed what I thought he would be capable of.

Bagged the complete set of titles so Selby should be very proud of himself.

He went down fighting in his last loss and is making the correct decision to call it a day

I didn’t realise he got stopped til I read this earlier.

Good fighter esp a featherweight where he was a bit of a monster.

He simply had the fight beaten out of him. There's only so many times you can go to well

Lemos was impressive. He really destroyed Selby with a very good showing of power body punching.

ya, looked a bit of a beast, very explosive

Lee looked good too. Good movement and landed some huge punches but they bounced off Lemos and he really gave Lee a hiding. Very very impressive performance and Lee gave everything he had. Nowhere to go other than retirement after getting brutally handled like that. Once again I had to say that I thought Lee looked good in there. Just came up against an absolute beast of a fighter. Really impressive showing there just beat everything out of Lee. It was surprising to see Lee taking a beating like that, just had no answer and every punch was hurting him. On that showing I'm not sure too many can handle Lemos. He will take everything and his own punches look very heavy handed. Intimidating guy.

Lee had a great career though and the highlight for me is the beating he gave to Stephen Smith as a 4/1 underdog. He went in there and he took Smith apart.

Selby is the next ex pro to try bare knuckle

Glass Joe wrote: ↑09 Feb 2026, 12:51 Selby is the next ex pro to try bare knuckle

It won’t end well he’s not built for BKB he must need the money poor sod

thought he retired years ago. Surprised he was still going