By Elisinio Castillo
With only a few days left in the year, two-time cruiserweight world champion Victor Emilio Ramirez of Argentina has announced his retirement from boxing at the age of 32.
Known as the Tyson of Abasto, the boxer closed out his career with a record of 22 wins (with 17 knockouts), 3 losses and 1 draw. The reason for the retirement? Ramirez is physically and mentally burned out and no longer has the motivation to put in the long hours in the gym.
"I do not want to come back to the ring to fight. I got tired of training and having to lose weight. No more," Ramirez said.
Although he was not competing between 2009 and 2013 and then made a comeback, this time his departure from the sport seems definitive.
Ramirez began his professional career in 2006 and won the World Boxing Organization interim-cruiserweight title in 2009 with his Ukbek triumph against Alexander Alekseev in Germany.
In his next match, he took on Ukrainian Ali Ismailov in Luna Park and was left with the regular belt in a split fault.
However, in his first defense he was unseated by future division great Marco Huck and there began Ramirez's first move away from boxing, which included drug use.
After securing six consecutive wins in his return, he was given a new world title opportunity and scored a unanimous decision victory over Englishman Ola Afolabi to win the interim-IBF cruiserweight title. He then became the IBF's full beltholder when champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez retired from the sport due to health reasons.
In May of this year, Ramirez traveled over to Moscow and faced WBA champion Denis Lebedev in a unification. Things did not go as planned, with Lebedev blowing him out in two rounds. The loss now stands as the final fight of Ramirez's career.