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Sunday, November 2, 2008

300 and out


Peter Buckley
Buckley celebrates after his 300th and final fight in Birmingham

After 256 defeats, you would have thought that boxer Peter Buckley would have got the message sooner.

But after 300 fights, with only 32 wins and 12 draws, the man with the worst record of anybody still involved in the sport is finally hanging up his gloves.

The super-featherweight, 39, enjoyed an unusual winning feeling as he outpointed Matin Mohammed in Birmingham on Friday - his first win since 2003.

"Win lose or draw, this is definitely my last fight," he said beforehand.

Despite the catalogue of losses, Buckley's career has taken in fights against several world champions, including Prince Naseem Hamed, Duke McKenzie, Scott Harrison and Colin McMillan, on his CV.

"I've had my eye on the 300 mark for a while, and it's a little milestone I want to achieve, but I don't want to fight on.

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"People keep saying to me that I'll get a call in a few weeks time offering me a fight and I'll say yes, but I mean it when I say this it.

"It will be fantastic to bow out in a city where I've not fought for years. Plenty of my mates are coming along to the show to cheer me on."

And Buckley says boxing has turned his life around, regardless of the unflattering statistics of his career in the ring.

"Boxing has been good to me over the years. When I was a youngster I was in trouble with the police, a really wild kid," he said.

Report: Buckley prepares for his final fight

"But the sport has given me a focus in life and kept me on the straight and narrow.

"I don't know what I'll do when it's all over on Friday, but I'd love to stay in boxing in one capacity or another.

"I've had a few high points in the sport, but my proudest was when I went to Austria and took on Harald Geler for an intercontinental WBA title.

"He'd been knocking a few people out but he was nothing special and I had him over in the ninth round, but ended up losing on points over 12.

"There's been some lows as well, and I definitely won't miss getting punched in the face for a living!"

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