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Froch hangs up his gloves

Carl Froch of Britain celebrates with the championship belt after defeating compatriot George Groves in their WBA and IBF Super Middleweight World Championship title fight at Wembley Arena in London May 31, 2014. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh (Reuters)

(Reuters) - Four-time world super middleweight champion Carl Froch has announced he is retiring from boxing after losing the desire to keep fighting at the highest level. The 38-year-old, who last fought in May 2014 when he knocked out George Groves at Wembley Stadium, hangs up his gloves after winning 33 of his 35 fights in a 13-year professional career. "I'm officially retired from boxing," he said on his Twitter site on Tuesday. The Nottingham-based fighter, whose only losses came at the hands of Dane Mikkel Kessler and American Andre Ward, told Sky Sports News it was a hard decision. "Making the decision to retire and saying 'It's been a year, it's too long, the fighting machine has gone, it's not going to come back', it's still hard. "The last thing I think about before my head hits the pillow is boxing, and when I wake up in the morning to think what time it is, and I think it's half six, seven o'clock, should I be going for a run, where’s my trainers – it's a lifestyle, a way of life, and it's a mindset. "I'll always have that and I think I’ll always be itching for the big fight." Speculation that Froch would retire gathered pace this year when he relinquished his IBF super-middleweight belt after an elbow injury forced him to miss out on a money-spinning fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (Writing by Peter Rutherford; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)