Wladimir Klitschko retires

I don't think his camp have confirmed it yet but is being strongly reported in Germany. Looks like we won't see a second fight with Joshua.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/boxing/40811881

Former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko has retired from boxing - ruling out a rematch with Britain's Anthony Joshua.

The Ukrainian, 41, was knocked out in the 11th round by current champion Joshua at Wembley Stadium in April.

Joshua, 27, had hoped Klitschko would sign his rematch clause for a proposed fight in Las Vegas on 11 November.

"I have achieved everything I dreamed of, and now I want to start my second career after sports," said Klitschko.

The two-time former champion, who held the unified title from 2006-2015 before losing to Joshua's fellow Briton Tyson Fury, ends his career with a record of 64 wins and five defeats.

"I would have never imagined that I would have such a long and incredibly successful boxing career," he added.

Confirmed now.

He deserves credit.

Signing out with a real slugfest against AJ certainly improves his image and legacy. I was always impressed by his class and professionalism. Hope he enjoys retirement.

Great fighter with real class inside and out.

Went out in one of the best heavy fights for probably decades.

Will be missed and remembered.

Yes a great heavyweight in the grand scheme of things. The dreadful showing against Fury hurts him a bit but then he was pretty old by that time. Not his fault the era was so poor. Did what he had to do and doesn't get enough credit for coming back to dominate after several earlier setbacks.

... probably the smart move, he had his chance to beat josh, wasn't able to take it. Second time round i feel josh will have learnt more than Wlad, who's another bit older. Ultimately, only he knows if he still has it in him, physically and in terms of desire. Better to go out with his faculties than to keep trying to get his belts back.

Legacy? He went from being quite an exciting fighter to a safety first one after the ko defeats. The jab and grab style that proved too much for a generation of poor heavies won't have too many sad to see the back of him or thinking fondly of his reign, but I think he at least deserves great credit for turning his career around... even if it didn't lead to great viewing. He didn't duck anyone, and finally, he went down fighting in what was the best heavyweight fight in decades, to sign off.

Seems a decent guy, wish him well in retirement.

Glad to see him retire and pass the flame on to the younger generation.

Was a very good champ in a very poor era.

Nice he has got out of the sport with his marbles in tact. Always seemed like a decent and very clever man, good luck to him in the future.

Not many fighters can bow out with a loss and be remembered for it. He isn't a top ATG heavy, but he should still be remembered as a great heavy.

I called this back in April. He gave everything against AJ and wasn't quite good enough. He knows that Father Time catches up with everyone so to go now is nothing to be ashamed of.

I hated his style post Sanders and Brewster and I think that we were robbed of some potentially very entertaining fights if he'd let his hands go rather than grab his opponent into submission.

Superb ambassador for the sport outside the ring though. I wish him a long and happy retirement.

Mr Bounce wrote:I called this back in April. He gave everything against AJ and wasn't quite good enough.  He knows that Father Time catches up with everyone so to go now is nothing to be ashamed of.

I hated his style post Sanders and Brewster and I think that we were robbed of some potentially very entertaining fights if he'd let his hands go rather than grab his opponent into submission.

Superb ambassador for the sport outside the ring though. I wish him a long and happy retirement.

I think most will agree with your post mate. His style was awful in the ring, but great outside. At least he showed himself in his last fight and went out on his shield.

I called this when the fight was announced one last payday for Wlad. Gone out in style

Looks like Joshua getting pulev now.

Pulev, then fight Wilder next. Be nice for Fury to come back. He says he is retired, but he will be back when his bank account looks empty!

milkyboy wrote:... probably the smart move, he had his chance to beat josh, wasn't able to take it. Second time round i feel josh will have learnt more than Wlad, who's another bit older. Ultimately, only he knows if he still has it in him, physically and in terms of desire. Better to go out with his faculties than to keep trying to get his belts back.

Legacy? He went from being quite an exciting fighter to a safety first one after the ko defeats. The jab and grab style that proved too much for a generation of poor heavies won't have too many sad to see the back of him or thinking fondly of his reign, but I think he at least deserves great credit for turning his career around... even if it didn't lead to great viewing. He didn't duck anyone, and finally, he went down fighting in what was the best heavyweight fight in decades, to sign off.

Seems a decent guy, wish him well in retirement.

I can't really put it much better than this.

Enjoy your retirement Wlad, well deserved.

We just gonna forget the many times this man bored us silly over the years.

I respect Wlad like the next man for me he is a top 15 ATG but there is a lot of fake praise on here today. The amount of times this man was abused on these boards is too much to mention. He took the reigns of the H/W division after a quite exciting 90's era and made it very dull indeed. The Joshua fight does not help him i'm afraid.

Still all the best in retirement you established an era all of your own along with Vitali and you will be remembered but you wont overtake Larry Holmes who is also seen as a dull H/W champion but in reality he had quite a few memorable fights.

Not sure anyone is trying to make a case for him being any better than top 15. Yes he was boring a lot but you can only beat what's in front of you and do what you can to win. He reigned in a shocking era of HW boxing but that's not his fault. Like someone said he never ducked anyone and always conducted himself well. I think everyone is just being respectful.

Without Wladimir Klitschko would heavyweight boxing have been higher quality? Who would have reigned the heavyweight division in the absence of Wladimir?

Thank you, Wlad.

Not a favourite fighter of mine, but a gentleman outside the ring, Klit licked most of his opponents, excellent record.

Another thing to remember (which people don't give him credit for) is that he effectively saved the heavyweight division from complete ignominy in the latter part of the last decade. Lest we forget, 2006 had four average champions in the likes of Chagaev, Maskaev, Rahman, Ibragimov all holding separate belts and with no particular intention of fighting each other. We can credit Wlad and his older bro for at least cleaning up that sorry state of affairs and when Vitali finally hung them up, Wlad was the proper champion especially after dealing with Haye who many people thought would batter him in to submission.

Weirdly I actually quite liked watching him fight. He was excellent at negating his opponents and getting out of the ring relatively unscathed which should be what a dominant champion does rather than get clobbered on his way to an exciting knock out victory.

Most people hated his style but he didn't prevent the division from being better in his era of dominance. In fact it would have been a hell of a lot worse without him.