Grigory Drozd ends his career.

Former WBC world champion in the first heavyweight champion 38-year-old Russian citizen Grigory Drozd (link is external) (40-1, 28KO) announced the end of his boxing career.

"Dear friends, fans of boxing! I have a very important day today, "Grigory wrote in his Instagram. - I made a very important decision for myself. I, Grigory Drozd, world champion in boxing, officially declare the end of my sports career.

Looking back, I understand that I owe a lot of people. And I want to say words of gratitude to all the people with whom I have been all my sports career.

I want to say a big thank you to my beloved, dear coach Sergey Nikolayevich Vasilyev. He went with me all the way from start to finish, my whole boxing career. I want to thank my second coach Vitaly Viktorovich Miller, my physical training coach Volkov Vasily, the masseur Sergei Goncharenko and my manager Anton Zhdanov.

I want to thank my promoters - it's German Vladimirovich Titov, my first promoter, Vladimir Khryunov, with whom we had three matches. And, of course, the company "World of Boxing" and Andrei Mikhailovich Ryabinsky. This man gave me the opportunity to realize my dreams. Together with him we climbed to the highest step of the pedestal - we became world champions. Thank you very much, Andrei Mikhailovich! I want to thank Rosneft and Igor Ivanovich Sechin for their support of sports and boxing in general. I want to say kind words to my close friends and comrades: Vladimir Valentinovich Polyakov, Alexander Yuryevich Bryksin and a friend who returned me to boxing after a long pause, to Ivan Dmitrievich Loguntsov.

Life does not stand still, in sports I reached a high, I stood on top. But you can not stay on it forever, so we have new victories, new goals, new tasks ahead. I want to thank the people who were with me. My family: my mother, my wife, my children. Together we went to our victories. And, of course, I have to say a special thanks to my dear region of Kuzbass-Kemerovo region, my native city of Prokopyevsk.

Today in front of me there are many interesting and important tasks: the development of boxing in the Kemerovo region, the development of Thai boxing in Russia.

As a representative from the Kemerovo Region in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, I am working on supporting social projects and sports.

We have achieved a lot, but we still face many important and serious tasks. I always hope for your support, for your love. Thank you for being together all these years.

Happy New Year, everyone. Siberian to you health, happiness and joy! Peace to you! "


P.S. Too bad he couldn't return due to injuries. He suffered heavy back pains while he was already done with healing both of his hands. He was a good champ, he was second best in cruiserweight when he was a champ. While he was training for his comeback he was appointed as president of Russian Muai Thai Federation.