Thaxton says he will carefully consider his boxing future

Norwich's Jon Thaxton is considering retirement after losing his British lightweight title fight against John Murray on Saturday.

The fight was stopped in the fourth round after Murray connected with various right-hand punches.

"Maybe the time has come for me to say goodbye to the sport," said Thaxton.

"I trained so hard for that fight and I was disappointed with the referee for stopping the fight, but that's the way it goes."

Thaxton has enjoyed a glittering career, spanning over 17 years, and has taken on some of the best fighters in the world, including Ricky Hatton.

"If you told me when I turned pro at 18 that I'd still be boxing at a high level when I was 35, I'd have said 'you've got to be joking', but I have done," he said.

"I've fought some of the best and always given them a good run for their money."

After winning the British lightweight title and the European lightweight title in 2008, Thaxton's career has been on a steady decline.

He lost his European title in front of his home crowd in February this year, before losing a light-welterweight bout against Tom Glover in July.

Despite his recent bad run Thaxton is still weighing up one last fight.

"I don't want to go out of boxing like that - being stopped - but boxing is a hard game and you've really got to want to do it," he added.

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