Matthew Macklin retires from boxing

World title challanger Matthew Macklin (35-6, 22 KOs) has announced his retirement from boxing.

The former British and two-time European champion challenged three times for the world title, losing to Germany's Felix Sturm in June 2011, and Argentine great Sergio Martinez in March 2012 and current middleweight king Gennady Golovkin in June 2013.

The Birmingham fighter lost a controversial points decision to Sturm in Cologne, Germany, although most observers thought Macklin had won the fight. He dropped Martinez before getting stopped at the end of the 11th round. And Golovkin knocked out Macklin with a devastating body shot in the third round.

Macklin, who won his last fight against Brian Rose by majority decision last month, said: "Around the half-way point in my fight with Brian Rose, I knew it was time to retire. My face was marking up, I was getting frustrated at not being able to land my shots and I knew that physically, after a long career, my body was telling me that enough was enough.

"I wanted to know how good I was and test myself against the very best the sport had to offer and I can proudly say I did that.

"I fought Sturm, Sergio Martinez and the best of them all Gennady Golovkin. Most importantly, I fought them all in their prime."