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Nothing left to prove? David Haye promised he would retire once he turned 31, and he has lived up to that promise, unlike the one he made to beat Wladimir Klitschko, a unification heavyweight title fight which he lost by a landslide.

There would be no retirement if he knew he had a change of getting another shot at one of the Klitschko brothers. Vitali even toyed with the idea after beating Tomasz Adamek, proving once again that in the Heavyweight division, the Ukrainian brothers are in a class of their on.

The London born Brit was fantastic at the Cruiserweight division, winning the WBA, WBC and WBO belts after beating Jean-Marc Mormeck and Enzo Maccarinelli. The next step to Heavyweight began with him immediately winning the WBA title, beating Nikoly Valuev. From there it was just waiting for the chance at the real prize, beating one of the Klitschko brothers.

Haye backed out of one fight, claiming injury. He didn’t back out of the one three months ago, held in Germany. Maybe he should have backed out. Haye was an utter disappointment, losing by a landslide unanimous decision. He didn’t get pounded, but he hardly managed to land a clean punch on Wladimir Klitschko, after so many months of trash talking.

He could have retired as a unified Heavyweight champion. If he would have won the Klitschko fight, I’m sure he would have moved on to Vitali, simply natural, and a chance to unify all four major Heavyweight title belts. Alas, speed doesn’t really interfere with the Klitschko plans. Haye realized he has nothing left for him in both Heavyweight and below, were he was already a champ. Staying true to his words, he didn’t renew his boxing license this week, and retired.

Some would say he achieved much more than anyone expected – After losing to a 40 year old Carl Thompson in 2004, few would have predicted Haye rising back up to win title belts. He never looked back, until last July in Hamburg.

He fought with a broken toe, but I doubt that he would have won it anyway. The gap in pretty much every aspect was too wide. Boxers are proud, arrogant creatures. Going down, knowing you’re not good enough, especially after talking so much, has to hurt, sting, burn inside.

Haye will continue with promoting, or some sort of celebrity lifestyle I guess. Who knows, maybe he’ll wait for the K brothers to retire, and make his comeback. I think everyone in the Heavyweight division is waiting for that day.