Kal Yafai: one of very best Brum champs

Kal Yafai announced retirement. Pic: Sky Sports

THE retirement of Kal Yafai is a little like the death of an ailing monarch. We knew it was coming, we just awaited the official announcement.

I saw the former world champ, now 34, at a Birmingham press conference in August and there was something in his demeanour, a near aura hanging over him, that suggested a glittering career was over.

At YouTube Theatre, Inglewood, California, on Saturday, he – like so many - made the mistake of attempting to re-capture the timing, reflexes and durability that had been dulled.

He was dropped twice by Jonathan Rodriguez and stopped in one for the WBA bantam inter-continental belt.

Puerto Rican born Rodriguez didn’t beat Kal Yafai, he beat a boxer who once was Kal Yafai.

Kal, one of three fine fighting brothers, revealed in the aftermath he intended that bout to be his last, win, lose or draw.

He told DAZN: “I had it on here (his shorts), ‘the last dance’. I had it engraved in my shorts. I knew I was coming to the end, anyway.”

That’s an error of judgement. No fighter should train for and compete in a contest they know will be their last. It takes away something and rarely ends well.

In boxing, when you know it’s over, it’s over there and then. Farewell concerts are for rock stars.

Yafai was an outstanding exponent of the noble art. He was not, as frequently printed, Birmingham’s first world titleholder: Billy Plimmer took a version of the bantam crown in 1892.

Kal was our first of the modern era.

As an amateur, he represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics and won silver at the 2010 European Games.

As a pro, he captured the British super-flyweight title, became WBA champ by outpointing Luis Concepcion in 2016 and defended the title five times, taking his show to Monte Carlo, Frisco, Texas, and Providence, Rhode Island.

He burned to be recognised as the best of the word champs at his weight. Whether he achieved that is a matter of debate among fans.

For Kal, his “break-through” bout, the one that would enhance his credentials for the pound-for-pound list, came in 2020 against modern great Roman Gonzalez.

That night in Frisco, “Chocolatito” was simply too good, peeling off a dominant display and winning in nine. That was Yafai’s first loss in a career that began back in 2012.

There would be only two more bouts for Yafai. He had to get off the deck to outpoint Jerald Paclar in Abu Dhabi, then came Saturday’s disaster.

He bows out with a record of only two losses in 29 contests.

Kal Yafai should be remembered as a tremendous fighter.

Will he go down in history as one of the great world champions? No.

Will he go down as one of the greatest Birmingham boxers? Most definitely.