True to his word, middleweight Peter Manfredo Jr announce his retirement from boxing tonight following his fifth round TKO loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Houston.

Manfredo, 30, said earlier in the week that he would strongly consider retirement if he couldn't beat Chavez:

"I’m not going to hang around for years. For what? If I can pull this off, then I can be a rich man and it would set me up for a perfect ending to a wonderful career. But if I can’t beat this guy, then I’ll retire and go home and be a father and be a husband and do my thing."

He's made a point repeatedly this week to say that he has grown tired of the boxing life, of not seeing his family enough. And with another less in one final shot at the big leagues of the sport, he's stepping away on his own terms.

[ Related: Chavez Stops Manfredo in Five ]

If the retirement sticks -- you want to believe it will, but this is boxing -- then he rides off into the sunset with a final record of 37 wins, 20 by knockout, and seven losses. Tonight in the ring after the fight, speaking with Max Kellerman of HBO, Manfredo admitted, "I’m not an HBO fighter, I guess. Every time I step up to HBO, I lose." Manfredo went 0-3 on HBO, including losses to Joe Calzaghe and Jeff Lacy in 2007.

Known as "The Pride of Providence," Manfredo built up a legitimate regional following that came out to see his fights. He also, as a side note, was in the most-watched main event of the 2011 season of ESPN Friday Night Fights, as 788,000 tuned in to see his January 14 win over Daniel Edouard.

On Twitter, his promoter Lou DiBella said, "Pete Manfredo Jr. just retired. Great kid. Really poignant speech. Wish you could have heard it. He did himself and Providence proud."

Top Rank's Twitter quoted Manfredo as saying, "I'm like a throwback fighter and they don't let that happen nowadays. You get hurt and they stop it. ... There are a lot of weak minded people in this world and this game makes you a strong person through training. ... I don't want to promote or be part of boxing. I just wanna (eat) a sandwich."