Former Champ Yuri Foreman Retires

According to Yuri Foreman’s facebook page, the former 154-pound champion has retired from the sport of boxing. This sudden turn of events comes as a surprise because Foreman (32-2, 9 KOs) is scheduled to appear on the June 7 undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez HBO PPV in Madison Square Garden.

The 33-year-old has been on a four fight win streak since suffering the only two defeats of his career; first losing his belt to Miguel Cotto ,then being stopped by Pawel Wolak three-years-ago. Foreman—who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two young children—is studying to become a Rabbi. He’s most known for defeating Daniel Santos to capture the WBA junior middleweight title in 2009. With the win he became the first ever Israeli boxing champ and the first Orthodox Jew to capture a title since Barney Ross did it in 1935.

After leaving Top Rank in 2011, he signed on with Dibella Entertainment and has been a regular on its “Broadway Boxing” series.

Foreman’s statement reads;

“Dear Friends! Unknowingly I signed a very harmful contract regarding my boxing carrier. I tried all possible ways to free myself from it, but nothing else I can do, than announce my retirement from boxing. So from now I’m on to bigger and better things. Much blessings.”