By Ian Aldous: Jon Thaxton (34-11) retired from boxing in October 2009 after a very successful career that saw him win British, European and WBF titles in the lightweight division. He’s widely known as one the nicest guys in the sport. Jon gave me a few minutes of his time this week go over a few topics.

It’s been 20 months since we last saw you compete in a boxing ring. How is life after boxing?

“People say do I miss it? And I think, would you miss getting punched in the face everyday? But I miss the challenges, keeping myself as fit as I was, but you know, life is great. I built up a business when I was boxing, so as soon as I knew I was going to retire, I had a business to fall into and that is thriving at the moment, so yeah, life’s good.”

How easy a decision was it to call an end to your 17-year career?

“To be fair I’d come to the end of it. I think maybe I should’ve retired after my European title defeat but you always think you’ve still got it and when I fought Tom Glover, he beat me, even in that fight I was thinking to myself, what am I doing in here? But then when I got a chance for the British title, you think, yeah I can do it, but I didn’t have it towards the end. I had a 17-year career, I always fought the best, I didn’t always beat the best but I gave a good account of myself.”

Tell us about the night you became European lightweight champion, KO’ing Juan Carlos Diaz Melero in October 2008 in Norwich.

“It was six months before when I fought (Yuri) Ramanau, and got stopped on a cut, so John Ingle got me another shot at the European title, I went in there, listened to my team, Graham Everett was brilliant, studied tapes of him, Graham had plan A, B and C, we didn’t need them, just needed plan A, I went in there and knocked him out, fantastic knockout, fantastic win, people say that must have been the highlight of your career but no it wasn’t, winning the British title was the highlight of my career beating Lee Meager in a fantastic 12-round fight. I can walk away from the sport with my head held high.”

During your reign as British champion, many experts and fans claimed Amir Khan avoided taking you on for the belt due to the fact he was also competing at lightweight at the time. Why do you think this fight didn’t happen?

“Just politics in boxing. He was with ITV, I was with Sky at the time and you know it’s hard to get round the politics nowadays. I know my team (Mick Hennessy) wanted the fight and I know I wanted the fight, it went to purse bids and should’ve stayed that way but they didn’t accept that and that’s just how it goes. Am I upset about it? I was but I’m not now, he’s got more talent than I could ever wish for but at the time I think I had a very good chance of a KO win.”

How impressed are you with Amir’s career so far?

“Very good, we all have lessons in life, he had a big lesson and I think it came at the right time. Rather than winning a version of a world title and then getting knocked out. I think he can go on to reign for a very long time.”

He’s talked about fighting Floyd Mayweather on many occasions, how would he fare against Floyd?

“He’s different class, I’m sorry but he’s different class at the moment. Mayweather is so adaptable and so experienced and he’s been in with the big hitters and best fighters in the world, so I would say, Amir, just avoid that one for the time being.”

Don’t forget to check out his official site: http://www.jonthaxton.co.uk

Boxing Legends at The Holiday Inn on Fri 15th Jul 2011

Boxing Legends Michael Watson, Paul Ingle and Spencer Oliver will all be appearing at The Holiday Inn Norwich North (Airport), on July 15th for a special evening to mark the 20th anniversary of Michael’s cruel accident and his courageous long fight back since.

Tickets priced at £75 platinum/VIP (table of 10 £700) or gold £40 a ticket which can be obtained from Sportlink 01603 868606 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting or The Holiday Inn North (Norwich Airport) 01603 410544