Peter Manfredo Jr's Retirement Speech: "I'm Gonna Work, Be Home For Dinner With My Wife and Kids" (Video)

Here's the post-fight press conference footage of Peter Manfredo Jr announcing his retirement from professional boxing late Saturday night, following his TKO-5 loss in Houston to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr:

Opening comments:

"I wish I could've given you a better night. He caught me with a real good shot. I was there, I was ready. This is boxing. This is a fight. You get caught with punches, you get rocked a little bit, you come back. I wear the 'I.W.' on my trunks, very proud Italian Warrior. 'Ya never got me down, Ray. Ya never got me down.'

"What can I say? [Chavez] was a great champion, I felt I was in the fight. I thought I could've had a better night tonight if it went on, but what are you gonna do? I'm happy for him, proud of him. He's a class act, and you should be proud of him, too."

On Chavez's boxing-first approach and power:

"Yeah, I was a little surprised he boxed. I was very anxious, I wanted to get to him really quick. And I was surprised by his power, too. I didn't think he had that much power. He caught me with a couple good shots in the first couple rounds, but I kinda just brushed them off. And then he must've caught me with a good shot that last time. I started making him miss, and then the ref stopped it."

On whether he got careless:

"I always get careless. You see my face? That's part of my game plan, you know what I mean? I gotta get caught with a couple shots, you know what I mean? If the fight would've kept going, it would've been better and better by the round. I would've put more pressure, more pressure, more pressure. But they don't really let you fight today. It's not like the old days. I'm a throwback to the old school fighters. I might be rocked a little bit, but I'm gonna fight until the end. It just doesn't work like that anymore in boxing. You get hurt, they stop it.

"I was OK. My legs were a little wobbly, but I was getting him back. When they stopped it, I was kinda making him miss, if you watch it. What are you gonna do? I grabbed on him, I held him, and that's when the referee stopped it. But I don't take nothing away from him. I just think you guys got robbed, because you would've seen 12 rounds like that, back-and-forth. And that's what you guys pay for."

His retirement:

"I don't wanna fight anymore. If I can't compete at a championship level, I don't wanna fight. It's not worth it for me. I work, got a family, who I love and I support. Lou DiBella gave me this opportunity, I can't thank him enough. He's a man of his word. I signed with him a year ago, and he says, 'Listen, Pete, I'll take you there, but you gotta do the job and win it.' And he took me here, but I didn't do my job. I appreciate it. I'm gonna work, be home for dinner with my wife, my kids. Raise them, make sure they don't fight. That's for sure."

What he's learned from boxing:

"I've been fighting since I was five years old. There's a lot of weak-minded people in the world, and that's something I'll never be because of this game. It's taught me how to be a strong-minded individual. This game, you torture yourself. Just making weight for this fight, I'm sitting in saunas, your mind plays games with you. You gotta be a strong person. I'll always be a strong person in life, and I can always teach that to my kids and my family, and I can be a role model for them. Thanks to this game, it was great to me.

"I got nothing to feel bad about. I made it pretty far. My dad was a fighter, my uncle was a fighter. I made it a lot farther than they did. Not saying it in a cocky way, we all accomplished a lot.

On his kids and boxing:

"My kids won't even look at it. I won't even order the pay-per-views for them."

On a possible future in boxing in another capacity:

"I can't do that. I want to leave the promoting to these guys, the Lou DiBellas and Bob Arums. These guys, these are the top dogs. I don't know what I'm doin'. I just wanna eat a sandwich."

Final comments:

"I wish I could've gave you a better fight. I was just starting to come on, like you seen. I got caught with a shot. What can I say? I took a shot, what can I say? Ever seen Goodfellas? I took a shot. What can I say? But it's part of the game, and this is what happens. Thank you all very much. It was an honor. Good luck to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in the future. His dad was a great fighter, and he's obviously following in his footsteps pretty well, and he's proving himself. So... Fuhgeddaboudit, you kiddin' me?"