Barry McGuigan has advised a heavyweight legend that he should stay retired.
McGuigan is a former world champion who won 32 of his 35 fights and famously united both Protestants and Catholics during his career. He claimed belts at all levels and was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005 after retiring in 1989.
Since then he has become a boxing promoter and manager who has worked closely with his son, trainer Shane McGuigan. At one point, the family had current IBF champion Daniel Dubois in their gym, and in recent weeks there have been rumours that Wladimir Klitschko could come out of retirement and seek a fight with the young champion.
Klitschko is now almost 50 and retired after a loss to Anthony Joshua in 2017, which came 18 months after his loss to Tyson Fury following a long spell reigning the heavyweight divisions.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, McGuigan suggested that Klitschko should not come back.
“When you retire, stay retired. But each person makes his own statement and with what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia he may want to do something to create in terms of that.
“His brother is the Mayor of Kyiv. They may want to kick up publicity for that but realistically in a purely boxing sense he should not bother coming out of retirement.”
As they never had a rematch following their first fight, another man Klitschko would love to have fought again was Fury as a way of seeking revenge, but he too is now retired from the sport.
