McCullough adamant he'll never fight again
Wayne McCullough insists he will never return to the ring after announcing his retirement yesterday.
The former world bantamweight champion announced he was quitting after remaining on his stool after six rounds in his NABF featherweight title fight with American Juan Ruiz in the Cayman Islands.
McCullough, an Olympic silver medallist in 1992, admits he will “always have the itch to fight” but the Belfast man who turns 38 next month says there will be no comeback.
Out of the ring for three years before losing to Ruiz, McCullough admitted that age had caught up with him.
McCullough, one of the few British fighters to win a world title on foreign soil when he defeated Yasuei Yakushiji in Japan in 1995, said: “I knew after the first round against Ruiz that it just wasn’t there any more. I was ahead on two of the three judges’ cards but I didn’t have the snap or sharpness.
“I’m glad that I was able to make the decision myself and that it wasn’t a doctor or someone else telling me that I can’t fight any more.
“I always said that when I retired that would be it and I would never come back and I’ll be sticking to that.
“At the end of the sixth round I told my corner I couldn’t go on. I suppose time has caught up with me and being inactive didn’t help.
“I’ll now move on and do other things. I work with UFC and I’ll keep coaching some fighters.”
