Derry Mathews retires

Derry Mathews, stopped by Scott Lawton on Friday night, has announced his retirement from boxing.

Starting a thread called 'The end has come guys' on Eastside Boxing's British forum, Mathews wrote, "just want to let everyone no about my decicion to retire think the time as come , a journey what i wouldn swap for anythink in the world met some great people some great freinds 17 years of boxing is a long tme , 8 years as a pro , always tried my hardest never backed out of a fight always wanted to fight the best to many people to thank but they no who they are , time to spend time with family and my kids x"

He says he is going to lend a hand in training fighters in his home city of Liverpool.

Mathews is a former English featherweight champion who spent some time carrying the WBU strap, engaging in winning battles with Steven Foster, John Simpson and Matthew Marsh before Choi Tseveenpurev knocked him out in the fifth of an April 2008 defence.

Three fights ago, in September of last year, Mathews was doing very well in a British title eliminator before being brutally unhinged by a single shot from Ulsterman Martin Lindsay.  He had six months out of the ring before making a losing comeback against Harry Ramagoadi and then came the final defeat against classy boxer Scott Lawton.