PARIS (AP) -WBA light heavyweight champion Fabrice Tiozzo is quitting.
"I'm retiring at the summit. At my age, with my prizes, I need real challenges, and I know that they won't offer them to me anymore," the 37-year-old French fighter said in an interview Thursday in sports daily L'Equipe.
Tiozzo has held the title since 2004. He had been scheduled to defend his crown on Nov. 18 against Argentina's Hugo Gernon Garay.
Asked what he would do in retirement, Tiozzo said, "First I'll rest. My body and my head. Then I'll decide."
Tiozzo had a record of 48-2, with 32 knockouts. Both of his loses were to Virgil Hill, the current WBA cruiserweight champion.
Tiozzo's last title defense was in February 2005, when he stopped Poland's Darius Michalczewski in the sixth round in Hamburg, Germany.
On July 15, Tiozzo knocked out Costa Rica's Henry Saenz in the fifth round in Cannet, France, in a non-title fight.
