John Duddy Announces His Retirement From Boxing: "I Will Not Come Back"

Irish middleweight John "The Derry Destroyer" Duddy announced his retirement from boxing today.

Duddy, 31, who often trained at Brooklyn's famous Gleason's Gym, cited burnout and a loss of enthusiasm for the sport as the reasons for his departure.

"For more than twenty years, I loved being a boxer," Duddy said in a prepared statement. "I still feel that it's an enormous honor to be a boxer. But I don't love it anymore."

Duddy leaves a $100,000 payday from the cable network HBO on the table. Duddy was slated to fight fellow Irish middleweight Andy Lee on March 12, on the undercard of the Sergio Martinez vs. Serhiy Dzinziruk main event.

"In many ways, continuing to fight would be the easy course of action," Duddy said. "I have been offered the opportunity to fight Andy Lee on HBO for a purse in excess of $100,000. A win would put me in position to fight for a world championship. This is not an opportunity that I cast aside lightly."

Duddy said that he embarked on some serious soul-searching as he found going to the gym no longer a pleasure, but a "chore." 

"I wish I still had the hunger, but I don't. The fire has burned out. And I know myself well enough to know that it won't return," Duddy said.

"It would be unfair to my fans, my trainer and manager, and everyone else involved in the promotion of my fights for me to continue boxing when I know that my heart isn't in it."

Duddy's last fight was a unanimous decision loss to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. last June in Texas, a bout in which Duddy took a serious amount of punishment, not an unusual state of affairs for the big-hearted Irish scrapper.

Duddy cited "the thrill of fighting in Madison Square Garden, Cowboys Stadium and, also, my beloved Ireland with crowds cheering for me," as some of his favorite memories.

For those who scoff at boxers who retire, only to return a few months later, Duddy insists that he is very serious and that his decision is final.

"I give you my word," Duddy says, "I will not come back."