Did Kelly Pavlik Knock Lockett Into an Early Retirement?

After coming to America only to have his hopes of becoming a world champion completely shattered by a power punching specter, the  31 yr old Gary Lockett has had some time to re-evaluate things.

It looks like Lockett's life flashed before his eyes during his last three rounds of boxing. "I am considering my future," said Lockett in an interview with BBC Sports. "I still have my faculties and I want to spend time with my family."

We knew Kelly Pavlik packed a serious punch, but apparently he hits so hard that it makes some people rework there life's plans. Lockett must have seen the light during his fight with The Ghost and at some point decided that he doesn't want to go through anything like that again.

We can't blame him for hanging it up - near death experiences usually result in unalterably changing a person's view on life (plus he finally got a decent payday). 

Well, he wasn't really going to die, but he probably felt like it, enough to leave the sport that he has fought professionally in for twelve years. 

"Every time he threw punches, it felt like he was making me pay"

- Gary Lockett

Floyd Mayweather Retires (again)

At 5:30 pm, Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather released a page-long statement to the media announcing that he is going to hang up his gloves and retire from the sport of boxing.

"It is with a heavy heart that I write you this message today. I have decided to permanently retire from boxing... I am sorry I have to leave the sport at this time, knowing I still have my God-given abilities to succeed and future multi-million dollar paydays ahead, including the one right around the corner. But there comes a time when money doesn't matter. I just can't do it any more.  I have a found piece with my decision that I have not felt in a long time."

We have heard this about six times before from Floyd, but, for some reason this one seems a little bit more legit. He hasn't done anything this elaborate before and the fact that it is coming just months before a title fight, not right after a victory (like usual), is somewhat telling.

Even the president of Golden Boy Promotions has already confirmed that the fight has been cancelled and "... will move on. Sometime next week, I will announce a big fight for Oscar.  There are different names out there and I will be working diligently to announce in the coming day's Oscar's next fight."

To be completely honest, we could really care less about this "breaking news". In the past few years Floyd has used the sport of boxing as nothing but a personal platform to make as much money as possible (trying not to end up like Holyfield I guess).  Now, after making hundreds of millions, he claims that he doesn't care about the money.  If he wants to leave the sport, then I say do it, it seems he hasn't really been in it for a while anyway.

His hall of fame career has been great to this point, however the jury is not out on whether or not he fought the best talent on his rise to the top.  One or two more high-quality wins would seal the deal on his career. 

As of now, if Mayweather never fights again, he may go down as the most talented boxer ever to walk the face of the earth, but will not be considered one of the top 10 greatest fighters in boxing history.