 Robert Helenius keeps the pressure on in his win over Scott Gammer |
Former British heavyweight champion Scott Gammer has decided to hang up his gloves for the final time after his loss to Robert Helenius on Saturday. The Pembroke Dock fighter, 32, has come out of retirement twice but will now step down for a final time after a sixth-round stoppage in Helsinki. Gammer's manager, Paul Boyce, confirmed that the Welshman's career is over. "Scott would like to thank the Welsh public and media for their support over the years," Boyce told BBC Sport Wales. "We took the fight to see if Scott could still do it... he'd looked good during preparation but it wasn't to be. "Scott has reached a stage of his life where he wants to spend more time with his young family, especially as he will soon become a father again." Heavy body shots put Gammer down in the first round, although he got up to battle his way back against 'The Nordic Nightmare'. But early in the sixth a right to the body floored Gammer again and Helenius finished him off with two head shots.  | 606: DEBATE |
The fourth defeat of Gammer's career proved to be the last and now ends his time in the ring. Gammer became British heavyweight champion in June 2006 with a ninth-round stoppage of Mark Krence, joining an elite band of seven Welshmen who have held the title. But Gammer lost his British title to Danny Williams in March 2007 and decided to quit the following September after losing to John McDermott on his comeback trail. However, Gammer opted to come out of retirement to fight Francesco Pianeta for the vacant EBU-EU heavyweight belt in July 2008. Gammer impressed in the early rounds against the German-based Italian but then injured his right hand and was forced to throw in the towel. Saturday night's fight at the Hartwell Arena offered Gammer another chance to kick-start his career. But the loss to Helenius, 25, a silver-medallist at the 2006 European Amateur Championships, saw Gammer slump to a 18-4-1 record and again question his future in the sport. The Helenius-Gammer fight was set to take place on the undercard of the WBA heavyweight title bout between holder Nikolay Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev. But the challenger failed a medical on the eve of the fight and it was left to Helenius to take the plaudits as the main attraction.
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