Oleksandr Gvozdyk, the former light heavyweight titleholder, reportedly is retiring from boxing at 33 to pursue business opportunities.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk’s knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev in a title-unification bout this past October evidently was his last fight.
Gvozdyk’s manager, Egis Klimas, told ESPN that the former light heavyweight beltholder is retiring from boxing at 33 to pursue business opportunities.
The 2012 Olympic bronze medalist from Ukraine won his title by stopping Adonis Stevenson in 11 rounds in December 2018, successfully defended once and then lost it by a 10th-round stoppage against Beterbiev.
“He’s a very smart guy, so he thinks it’s going to be inconvenient for him to do that kind of business and box at the same time,” Klimas told ESPN Tuesday afternoon. “So he needs to give himself 100% to boxing or business. So he decided to do that.”
The loss to Beterbiev didn’t play a role in Gvozdyk’s decision, Klimas said. However, a rematch might be the only thing that could bring him back.
“Actually, what kept him from moving away from boxing, that motivation to go back into the ring, was Beterbiev,” Klimas explained. “That was the only one holding him because he wanted to get that rematch. There might be a possibility that someone will get him a rematch, he might change his mind.”
Trainer Teddy Atlas, who worked with Gvozdyk, thinks a lot of his former protégé.
“All you need to know is that I wasn’t planning on coming back [to train], just like I wasn’t with Timmy Bradley at the time. I only did it because of the kind of human being that he was, same as Timmy,” said Atlas, who reportedly spoke with Gvozdyk about his decision Monday.
“Obviously he was a tremendous fighter, a bronze medalist, won a world title. But again, it starts with me, my decision to train him, it was all based on visiting him for a few days and seeing the kind of person, the father, husband and man that he was.”
Jean Pascal and Badou Jack are both fighting to stay in title contention in the light heavyweight division.
Jean Pascal just wouldn’t go away.
The Haitian-Canadian, known as much for his fighting spirit as his skill set, lost a decision and his light heavyweight title to Bernard Hopkins in 2011. He bounced back. He was stopped by Sergey Kovalev in two title fights, in 2015 and 2016, and simply got back to work. He lost a decision to Eleider Alvarez in 2017 and then titleholder Dmitry Bivol last year, which seemed to signal the end of his career as an elite fighter.
Not quite. Pascal got one more big fight – against Marcus Browne in August – and this time his persistence paid off. Pascal, 36 at the time, won a close, eight-round technical decision after Browne was cut by an accidental head butt to remain in the 175-pound title hunt.
Pascal fights Badou Jack on the Gervonta Davis-Yuriorkis Gamboa card Saturday in Atlanta on Showtime.
“I’ve been fighting at the highest level for the last 11 years,” Pascal (34-6-1, 20 KOs) said. “That means something. I’m a special fighter. I have things that nobody can teach, which is a chin and a heart.”
Jean Pascal (left) and Badou Jack are both fighting to remain in title contention in the light heavyweight division. Amanda Westcott / Showtime
Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs) hasn’t fought for almost a year, since he suffered a ghastly cut on his forehead in a unanimous-decision loss to Browne last January.
Before that, the former super middleweight titleholder had his own share of disappointment. Most recently, he had to settle for draws in two of his previous three fights – against James DeGale and Adonis Stevenson – that some believe he deserved to win.
Jack, 36, also is fighting to remain in the thick of things. That fact isn’t lost on Pascal.
“I know that Badou has had a long layoff and he’s fresh and will be even hungrier. I’m always hungry and that will make it a great fight on Saturday night,” Pascal said.
For his part, Jack can’t wait to get into the ring.
“I guess you have to wait until Saturday night for me to prove that I still have it,” Jack said. “I was flat against Marcus Browne, regardless of the cut, but I feel much better this time than I did heading into that fight.
“All of the close decisions I’ve had in the past, everyone who watched those fights knows that those were wins. Saturday night I’m going to win and there will be no doubt.”
Pascal, now 37, doesn’t plan to go away just yet.
“Badou Jack is a solid fighter with great defense and good attack,” he said. “I’ve had a great camp in Puerto Rico. I’ve been away from my family for three months and I’m war ready. Make sure you tune in.”
Tyson Fury posted on Instagram a photo of himself, SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee. and said: “Getting the old team back up and running.’’
It looks as if Tyson Fury’s new trainer is SugarHill Steward, a nephew of the late Emanuel Steward.
Hours after news broke Sunday that Fury had split with Ben Davison, Fury posted a photo on Instagram of him, SugarHill Steward and former middleweight champion Andy Lee. It included a caption that said: “Getting the old team back up and running.’’
Davison confirmed early Sunday that he would no longer be in Fury’s corner. With only 10 weeks before a February heavyweight rematch with Deontay Wilder, Fury moved quickly to find a new trainer.
Fury, who is scheduled to fight Wilder on Feb. 22, got to know SugarHill Steward while training in Detroit at the Kronk Gym in 2009. His name then was Javan “Sugar’’ Hill. He formally changed it last year, in honor of Steward, the Hall of Fame trainer who died in 2012.
SugarHill Steward worked with former light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson after his mentor’s death. He also has been in the corner for super middleweight Anthony Dirrell and heavyweight Charles Martin.
Badou Jack is scheduled to face veteran Jean Pascal on the Gervonta Davis-Yuriorkis Gamboa card Dec. 28, his first fight in almost a year.
Consider the last seven opponents that former super middleweight champ Badou Jack has faced: Anthony Dirrell, George Groves, Lucian Bute, James DeGale, Nathan Cleverly, Adonis Stevenson and Marcus Browne.
Who faces a gauntlet like that in this day and age? Precious few.
Indeed, if any fighter deserves an easy opponent, it’s Jack. So who will the 36-year-old Swede fight on the Gervonta Davis-Yuriorkis Gamboa card Dec. 28 in Atlanta on Showtime? Jean Pascal, another tough veteran coming off an upset victory over Browne in August.
It never ends.
“I’m getting older,” Jack said on The PBC Podcast. “I might deserve a tune-up fight. When I fight better opposition, I step up my game more, I fight better. My first loss … I fought a journeyman (Derek Edwards). I wasn’t really 100 percent. And that’s when accidents happen. … I fight my best when I fight top guys.”
Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs) fought a top guy last January, Browne, who won a wide decision at least in part because of a gruesome cut in the middle of Jack’s forehead – the result of an accidental head butt in the seventh round – that bled profusely.
Badou Jack is hard at work preparing for his fight against Jean Pascal on Dec. 28 in Atlanta on Showtime. Sean Michael Ham / Mayweather Promotions
Jack fought hard the remainder of the fight but, having fallen behind in the early rounds, he couldn’t make up the lost ground.
“I should’ve won that fight,” Jack said. “… He’s a front runner. He always looks good in the beginning. He’s fast, athletic. I break you down. Usually I’m better in the later rounds. He won some of the early rounds. I won maybe one round or two before the cut. And then I got the cut. I couldn’t even see for six, seven rounds. He still couldn’t do nothing.
“It’s in the past, a learning experience. I shouldn’t have lost that fight, though. It is what it is.”
Of course, Jack went into the fight with the reputation of being a tough guy – remember that gauntlet – but he enhanced his image with his determination to persevere through one of the worst gashes in recent memory.
“It’s crazy, people giving me … more credit for that fight than any of my good wins,” he said. “And that was my worst fight in my pro career. Just because I showed heart and kept fighting with that cut.
“That’s something you can’t teach. You’re either a fighter, you’re either born with it or not.”
Jack, returning from a bad cut, will have been out of the ring for almost a year when he takes on Pascal. Sean Michael Ham / Mayweather Promotions
Jack certainly remains a fighter, even in his mid-30s. He said he doesn’t feel a sense of urgency in spite of his age. The cut has healed well, he said. In fact, doctors cleared him to fight a few months after the Browne fight.
And he said he feels as if he’s back on track after the setback. He’s confident going into the fight with Pascal (34-6-1, 20 KOs).
“I don’t feel no pressure,” he said. “… I still feel young. Even though (Jean Pascal) is only a year older than me, he’s been a pro longer than me. I have only 10 year in the pro game and 26, 27 fights, whatever I’ve got. I don’t feel no pressure. But I definitely need to win this fight, of course.”
Jack has begun to think about the legacy he will leave. He held a major 168-pound title from 2015 to 2017 and won what the WBA calls its “regular” 175-pound title in 2017. Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize that belt.
“I want to define my legacy,” Jack said. “I feel good. I feel good in the gym. I felt like s—t in my last fight because of some mistakes that happened in camp and this thing with (Adonis) Stevenson happened right before I started camp. I don’t want to make excuses.
“Right now, I feel great in the gym. As far as running, rounds, letting my hands go … I’m doing great numbers. On fight night we’ll see what happens. I’d love to become a three-division world champion.”
