ANTHONY JOSHUA could RETIRE even if he wins back his old world titles from Andy Ruiz Jr in their rematch.

That is the incredible opinion of his promoter Eddie Hearn – meaning mouthwatering potential scraps against the likes of Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury will never happen.

But a champion retiring at the top of his boxing game is nothing new.

Many have done so with an undefeated record too.

Obviously after his seven-round beatdown by Ruiz back in June, this won't happen for AJ.

Here, SunSport profiles seven boxers who hung up their gloves with a belt still around their waist.

Rocky Marciano, retired 1955

The American is the only heavyweight champion to have finished his career undefeated, signing off with the NBA heavyweight title in 1955 with victory against Archie Moore.

He amassed 43 KO's from his 49 fights, beating the likes of fellow legends Joe Louis, Harry Matthews and Roland LaStarza along the way.

He was of course the inspiration for the character Rocky Balboa from Sylvester Stallone's Rocky movies.

Marciano died on August 31 1969 aged 45.

Joe Calzaghe, retired 2008

An unblemished 46-fight record with 32 knockouts makes Calzaghe undoubtedly one of Britain's best ever boxers.

It's somewhat strange he isn't mentioned right up there in the US – he went over the water and beat two of their heroes in Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr.

These last two wins were stepping up to light-heavyweight after Calzaghe had blitzed the super-middleweight division.

His last title defence there was when he secured a unanimous points win against Mikkel Kessler.

The Italian Dragon has since gone on to perform in the hit BBC One show Strictly Come Dancing – but his Cha-cha-cha was quite as fluent as his performances in the boxing ring were.

Andre Ward, retired 2017

Another undefeated fighter in the list, and not the only one who probably doesn't get the credit he deserves.

Ward won world titles at super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, notably battering Russian beats Sergey Kovalev twice.

He was also one of only two boxers to beat Brit champ Carl Froch, giving the Sheffield man a schooling in Atlantic City in 2011.

After his KO win against Kovalev in their rematch, there were rumours Ward even fancied trying to win a world title at heavyweight.

But with Anthony Joshua touted as a potential opponent, Ward decided to hang up his gloves with the WAA, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight straps.

Floyd Mayweather, retired 2017

Arguably the greatest ever boxer, Mayweather came back to the ring in 2017 to chalk up his 50th straight win against UFC star Conor McGregor.

Not known for his devastating power, "The Money" still has 27 KOs from the 50 fights.

These included stoppages against Brit hero Ricky Hatton in 2007 and Filipino boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao in 2015.

There remains the constant clamour for Mayweather to come back at the age of 42, with the Pacquiao rematch an option.

But the first happened too late as it was – true boxing fans wouldn't be THAT excited about part II.

Vitali Klitschko, retired 2012

The Ukrainian dominated heavyweight boxing for years along with younger brother Wladimir.

Vitali held the WBC belt for eight year, from 2004 until 2012 before retiring with it.

During this time he collected wins against the likes of Shannons Briggs, Derek Chisora and Manuel Charr.

Meanwhile Wladimir was holding on to the WBO, IBF, WBA and IBO straps before he famously lost them all to Brit Tyson Fury in November 2015.

From 47 fights Vitali, who is now a politician in his homeland of Ukraine, ended his career on 45 wins, 41 by way of KO, with two losses.

One of those defeats was against another one featuring in this list, Lennox Lewis.

Carl Froch, retired 2014

He enjoys being remembered as the man who sold out Wembley for his epic rematch against George Groves.

But the Sheffield hitter should also be remembered as one of Britain's best ever boxing champions.

His two defeats from a 35-fight career came against the great Andre Ward (also on this list) and Danish warrior Mikkel Kessler.

Froch went on to avenge the Kessler defeat in 2013 before his two humdingers against Groves and now works on Sky Sports.

As he did throughout his career, Froch left everything in the ring on both occasions, securing KO wins.

It meant he retired with the WBA and IBF super-middleweight world titles.

Lennox Lewis, retired 2003

If there was one man to challenge the domination of the Klitschkos in the early 2000s it was Canadian-born Brit Lewis.

And he proved it when he beat Vitali in 2003. That fight was waved off after the Ukrainian suffered a horror cut above his eye, though he was ahead on the cards.

 

Lewis retired after that battle in Los Angeles with some enviable names on his record as well as the WBC and IBO world titles.

He avenged defeats to Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman by securing KO wins in both the rematches.

And he even beat the beast that is Mike Tyson in 2002 – thought it wasn't the same Iron Mike that tore through the division in the 1980s.

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