By Ruslan Chikov
Former junior middleweight world champion Roman Karmazin (40-4-2, 26KOs) says boxing is a sport where very few fighters walk away rich. Karmazin, 38-years-old, announced his retirement after suffering a bad knockout to Daniel Geale in October. He wants to start a new life by training a few fighters, writing a book on boxing and plans to open a small hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"Boxing is over for me. I can only teach boxing. I have three sons, a mother, a wife, but what are the opening for a new life? I've learned how many vile people there are. I've distributed half million rubles to friends. Only one returned 150,000. I thought there were a lot of snakes in boxing, but in ordinary life - it's even worse," Karmazin told FE.
"I'm going to open a mini-hotel in St. Petersburg, where it is fashionable. There are a bunch of small hotels, and all of them stay packed.......even in the winter. I do not regret being a boxer because I was a world champion. And I have not had a lot of money when compared to Klitschko or Tszyu in terms of purses. These fellows have earned a lot. The remaining boxers get nickels and dimes. Our people think: 'if you were a world champion, you have amassed a million dollars.' If you add up all of my purses - a million dollars would be very far away. I'm now going to have a book written to tell the truth [about boxing]."