Former WBA super-flyweight champion Kal Yafai has retired after losing against Jonathan Rodriguez.
Rodriguez put Yafai on the canvas twice before the referee stopped the contest in round one at YouTube Theater, Inglewood in California on Saturday.
Briton Yafai, 34, was the WBA super-flyweight champion between 2016 and 2022.
“This was the end before the fight anyway,” Yafai told DAZN after his defeat.
Pointing at the inner lining of his shorts, Yafai added: “I had it on here ‘the last dance’, I had it engraved in my shorts. I knew I was coming to the end anyway.”
After beating Luis Concepcion via unanimous decision to win the vacant WBA super-flyweight strap in 2016, Yafai made five successful defences of his belt before losing the title following a TKO defeat against Roman Gonzalez.
Birmingham’s Yafai represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics and he won a silver medal at the 2010 European Games in Moscow, Russia.
After turning professional in 2012, Yafai went on to win super-flyweight titles at British, Commonwealth and Inter-Continental levels prior to claiming his world title.
Yafai won 27 of his 29 professional bouts, picking up 15 of those victories inside the distance.
