MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Former heavyweight WBC Champion of the World Vitali Klitschko believes his decision to quit sport was absolutely right, the official Klitschko Brothers website reported Monday.
"Certainly, I have done a lot of thinking and discussed the decision with people closest to me," the 34-year-old Ukrainian boxer said. "I did not want to hang on to the title by all means possible, and to wait to be asked to quit until the last moment."
"I weighed up all the possibilities, and I am convinced that I have made the only right decision in the circumstances," Klitschko said, adding that any other option would have been to deceive his fans.
The boxer, who won 35 out of 37 career bouts, said if he had decided to fight American Hasim Rahman on November 12, he would not have been able to last more than a round due to his injury.
"Recently I was fighting more with my injuries than with my opponents," Klitschko said. "I made the difficult decision to quit sport at the peak of my boxing career, and to give my belt to the World Boxing Council."
Klitschko, who is 6'8" tall and weighs 245 lbs, said he felt slightly sad about ending his 20-year career.
"It is a pity that Volodya [the younger Klitschko brother] and I were not able to realize one of our dreams, to simultaneously become world champions in different categories. We were so close to it," he said. "It is also a pity that I had to quit my sporting career so unexpectedly."
