New Zealand Heavyweight boxer Junior Fa has retired from professional boxing, following his defeat to unbeaten Frank Sanchez at Day of Reckoning last December. Fa had an upcoming fight date against Arslanbek Makhmudov, but has now chosen to end his professional boxing career.
In an interview with Stuff, Junior Fa revealed he hadn’t been trained ahead of his upcoming bout. Following three weeks of inactivity ahead of facing Makhmudov, Fa and his coaches had chosen to call time on his career.
Speaking to Stuff, Fa said: “I looked down at my fists, and said to myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I don’t want to hurt people anymore“. After three weeks of inactivity Fa visited the gym for a final time. “The question that popped into my mind was, ‘Why am I training so hard to hurt people?’”.
Fa spoke further on his retirement adding “When a fighter doesn’t want to fight any more, they’re done. What do they say? You don’t play boxing.”
Junior Fa (20-3) retires from the sport following 7 years of competing professionally. Fa’s journey began back in 2016 where he started with a whopping 9 wins in his debut year. Fa would seek out further competition and travelled to fight out of New Zealand for the first time. Fa defeated Keith Barr via TKO in 2017 in Alabama.
2018 saw Junior Fa capture his first major championship, winning the WBO Oriental Heavyweight title. Fa took to America in 2019 and picked up two Unanimous Decision victories. He faced Joseph Parker in 2021 and lost his title via a wide-points decision. He returned in 2022 with a shock TKO loss to Lucas Browne in round one.
Fa picked up a KO on a small-hall show against Tussi Asafo (0-6), before heading to Day of Reckoning. Fa competed well but lost to unbeaten Cuban Frank Sanchez in round 7. That bout is now the final one of Fa’s career.
Arslanbek Makhmudov remains scheduled for the fight date, with opposition TBA. You can read our preview of Mbilli vs Heffron, which features Makhmudov on the undercard, here.
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