In March 2008 Danny Green retired from Boxing stating that his future as a husband, father and grandfather was more important than defending his WBA title. Many boxing fans admired him for those sentiments.
He went on to say at that press conference, “I woke up at 1am Sunday morning with my stomach churning, and it was telling me to hang up my gloves basically. I have never gone against my gut feelings and I am not about to start doing that now. You won’t see me come back. I am turning down millions and millions of dollars.”
But like so many before him he did come back. He destroyed Roy Jones Junior when many never gave him a chance. The early knock out caught a cold Jones totally by surprise. A man who it appeared had not taken the fight seriously and when he walked into the ring was not warmed up or focused sufficiently. Some cynics felt that a fix was on, but this seemed extremely unlikely. Many were relieved that the fight ended so early and Green was still in one piece, as he is a likeable guy.
His next fight was a sham, and one wonders why he ever agreed to fight Paul Briggs. We questioned his entourage for allowing the fight to take place and were told that Danny has a big say in his own management, so such blame was misdirected.
He has today announced that he will fight US boxer BJ Flores for the IBO cruiserweight world title at Challenge Stadium in Perth on November 17th. Flores, aged 31 has won 24 fights (15 by KO) and drawn once, and has struggled to find opponents, which in itself says something about his reputation.
Green is trying to restore his image, which has undoubtedly been tarnished, but if he had this ‘gut feeling’ about retiring and being there for his children, he will need to be 100% right mentally going into this fight. It would be more than tragic should he come to any harm, purely to try and mend his reputation and even more so if this fight is motivated by money.
