By Jim Maltzman: Oleksandr Gvozdyk has decided to retire from boxing after six years as a professional. The former WBC 175-pound champion Gvozdyk (17-1, 14 KOs) lost his title to IBF champ Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) in a unification fight on October 18 in Philadelphia.
Gvozdyk still has a lot left in the tank, but he wants to focus on his business career. The 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Gvozdyk is not retiring from boxing because of his recent loss to Beterbiev.
The 33-year-old Gvozdyk fought well in the early rounds against Beterbiev, but he then gassed out in the second half of the match and was stopped in the 10th. Beterbiev knocked Gvozdyk down three times in the round before referee Gary Rosato halted the match.
Oleksandr wanted a rematch with Beterbiev
Gvozdyk has made a lot of money in boxing an estimated net worth of $1 million to $5 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Gvozdyk delayed his retirement because he was reportedly hoping for a rematch with Beterbiev, but that hasn’t happened. Beterbiev will be defending his IBF title against his mandatory Fanlong Meng at some point after the lockdown.
Even with Gvozdyk’s retirement announcement, there’s still a possibility that he could come back for a rematch with Beterbiev. It’s understandable because of the money Gvozdyk would make in a second fight with Beterbiev. It’s hard to walk away entirely from boxing when you have a chance for a big payday for a single fight.
This is a significant loss for Top Rank, the promoters for Gvozdyk, as he’s still capable of winning world titles.
“It’s been a pleasure for us to have promoted Oleksandr Gvozdyk, who not only proved himself to be a great fighter but is also one of the most highly intelligent boxers that we have had the pleasure of promoting,” said Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to ESPN.
“Thankfully we worked well together with him and lead him to a world championship.”
Gvozdyk was involved in a tragic fight against former WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis ‘Superman’ Stevenson in stopping him in the 11th round on December 1, 2018, in Quebec City. Gvozdyk finished the 40-year-old Stevenson with a 10-punch flurry that put him down.
After the fight, Stevenson went into a coma was hospitalized. Although Stevenson would later recover, his career was over. Whether the fight with Stevenson had a bearing on Gvozdyk’s retirement is unknown.
What is known is Gvozdyk didn’t show the same fire when he Beterbiev ten months later in October 2019.
Teddy Atlas wasn’t going to come back to train Gvozdyk
Gvozdyk’s trainer Teddy Atlas says he wasn’t planning on returning to resuming his coaching job with him.
“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,” said Atlas to ESPN.
The fact that Atlas wasn’t going to return to resume training Gvozdyk seems to suggest that he didn’t feel like he had it anymore. That might go back to the lack of fire that Gvozdyk showed after his win over Stevenson. That fight seemed to take a lot of out Gvozdyk mentally in terms of the motivation that he had previous to the contest.
Aside from his win over Stevenson, Gvozdyk’s other impressive victories came against these fighters:
- Yunieski Gonzalez
- Mehdi Amar
- Isaac Chilemba
- Tommy Karpency
- Nadjib Mohammedi
- Otis Griffin
- Doudou Ngumbu
It would have been interesting to see Gvozdyk take on WBA champions Jean Pascal and Dmitry Bivol. Those are two guys that Gvozdyk never fought during his career. Pascal is one of those guys that would have brought the best out of Gvozdyk. Likewise, a technical fight between Gvozdyk and Bivol would interest a lot of boxing fans.
