Credit: Mark Vester at Boxing Scene
Well, this is odd. 35-year old WBA light heavyweight champion Danny Green (25-3, 22 KO) told reporters that he won't be making his mandatory defense on April 27 against Hugo Garay, and instead plans to retire "as soon as possible."
You will likely remember Green as Antonio Tarver's advertised Showtime opponent from December of last year, only to find out that no contract was ever signed and that the Tarver team wasn't returning calls from Green and his handlers, who had moved their operations to Los Angeles to prepare for the fight. It was a classless move by Tarver, and instead of that fight, Green wound up taking on WBA light heavyweight champ Stipe Drews. Green won a 12-round unanimous decision to capture the belt, and Tarver wound up beating Danny Santiago in a stinker.
Green's career highlight, of course, was his 2006 super middleweight showdown with rival Anthony Mundine, a fight he lost in front of 30,000 plus in Sydney. There had been a lot of talk that Mundine and Green would meet in a rematch this year, with Mundine holding an alleged 168-pound championship and Green with his alphabet belt at 175, but now nothing will come of it.
You do have to wonder about the timing, because this really seems to have come out of nowhere. If he truly stays out of the sport, then all the best to him, and hopefully he'll have a great retirement with his family. But never say never, because it's quite possible (some would even say probable) that he's going to get the itch to fight again in about a year.