‘The Ghost’ had recently been let down by the collapse of his world title challenge against Andre Ward and has decided against waiting for another chance to become a two-weight world champion.
At just 30 years-old, it seems a premature end to the Youngstown fighter’s career, although Pavlik has been dogged by out of the ring problems since losing his WBO and WBC belts to Sergio Martinez in 2010.
Pavlik hit the headlines with a much-published battle with alcoholism in recent years, with his name linked to brushes with the law as recently as late last year and seems to have fallen out of love with the sport.
In his interview with Rafael, Pavlik cited health problems in later life as the main reason for his announcement, although sceptics may point to the possibility of his old demons coming to the surface once again.
