Julio Cesar retires – Gladiator hangs up his gloves

‘The Gladiator’ will fight no more.

Julio Cesar [3(1)-4(3)] has hung them up and retired from boxing.

The 39-year-old confirmed he was calling it a day yesterday, ready to start a new chapter in his life.

“I close the door to the past, open the door to the future, take a deep breath, step on through and start a new chapter of my life.
And with this, I would like to announce my retirement from boxing,” he said online.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your kindness, support and understanding during my career.”

The Angolan-born Belfast fighter won National Novice and Intermediate titles before turning over on the 2014 Back to the Future card with over Iain Jackson.

Having seen his record stained initially by a succession of away-corner outings, Cesar came into domestic attention in 2019 first with a win over Casey Blair before posting one of the upsets of recent times as he stopped Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Sean McGlinchey in five at the Devenish – and followed it up with one of the greatest celebrations in recent Irish boxing history.

The pandemic prevented him from capitalizing on that win fully and when he returned after a break on Celtic Clash 12 he was upset in Spain. Fernando Heredia stopped the ‘The Gladiator’ this summer.

There was talk of a Jamie Morrissey fight for the super middleweight and Cesar’s name is often used when discussing an exciting domestic scene around the weight.

However, he won’t be involved in any domestic clashes or any fights in the future as he has hung them up.

We here at Irish-boxing.com would like to wish Julio all the best in the future and thank him for the entertainment and the access over his career.