by James Slater: The career of one of Ireland’s toughest fighters came to an end last night in The Cayman Islands, as former world bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough announced his retirement moments after losing to Juan Ruiz in his comeback fight. Remaining on his stool after six rounds had been completed, McCullough told his corner he could not go on..
The result was a little strange, as McCullough had been very much in the fight – even winning on points on the scorecards of two of the three ringside judges. The fight contested the NABF featherweight title, and “The Pocket Rocket” was hoping to re-start his career with a win – even at the age of 37. Now, however, Wayne will fight no more.
Grabbing the microphone after the fight had ended, the very popular McCullough told his fans he was through, not only for the evening, but for good.
“I think this is my last fight and I want to thank you all for coming,” the former bantamweight champion said. “I’m disappointed with the way things went but I just felt I couldn’t go on.”
Despite ending his career on a less than glorious note, McCullough will go down as a good fighter. His record of never having been knocked out still intact, the tough Irishman can take immense pride in the fact that he went the distance with some excellent fighters. Erik Morales, Naseem Hamed and Scott Harrison are just three of the top names that failed to halt “The Pocket Rocket.” His reputation as one of modern day boxing’s most granite chinned warriors still in one piece, despite what happened last night when Father Time undeniably assisted in his defeat, the 37-year-old can hold his head up high.
McCullough was a world champion, he ducked no-one, he was willing to travel to different countries to fight and he featured in some superbly entertaining battles. He may not be a future Hall of Famer – yet even this is at least debatable – but McCullough will be remembered by his fans as a special fighter.
Having had his first fight in almost three years last night – the Ruiz bout being his first since his 10th round TKO loss to Oscar Larios in July of 2005 – McCullough retires with a more than respectable record of 27-7(18). Wayne was WBC bantamweight champion from July of 1995 to January of 1997.