The Ukrainian former world champion in light heavyweight, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, gave a harsh and emotional response to critics who, after his early defeat by Serbian Radivoje Kalajdzic at the Zuffa Boxing 02 tournament in Las Vegas, again started talking about retirement.
The fight, which took place on the night of February 2 at the Meta Apex arena, was remembered for Kalajdzic's dramatic comeback: the Serbian was knocked down twice in the early rounds but managed to turn the tide and delivered a heavy knockout to Gvozdyk in the seventh round. At the time of the stoppage, the Ukrainian was confidently leading on all judges' scorecards (59-53, 60-52, 60-52).
Despite the painful defeat, the 38-year-old Gvozdyk made it clear that he does not intend to hang up his gloves just yet:
"If I listened to the experts who say that I need to retire, then my biggest achievement now would have been winning the regional youth championship. I have been hearing this all my life, starting at age 12: 'they will kill you in cadets,' 'they will kill you in juniors,' 'about adults, I do not even want to discuss...'
But I will not argue with the experts either. Yes! I am already old, yes, I am already no good, yes, I should wrap it up. But I will make this decision when I want to. Let me at least make a beautiful hit in the end, maybe I'll lead the knockout highlights in another role."
