Tony Jeffries: One fight, one spar, one dodgy training session can end your career

‘THINKING of what you are going to do after you retire from boxing while you are still a fighter is a big mistake.’

This statement, said by many, is bullsh*t!

I often heard this when I was fighting and also from a few fighters I’ve had on my podcast.

I do get why people say it – because if you take your eye off the ball and think too far ahead, you could forget about what’s in front of you. This is important because when you are fighting you need to focus fully on fighting.

But with that being said, fighters have a lot of downtime, and I mean a lot. This is when they should be thinking about their future and looking at creating another source of income.

A boxing career can end with a click of the fingers – mine did.  Well, it was a crack in the knuckle, not a click of the finger.

One fight, one spar or a dodgy training session could end your career and if you don’t have a plan B then you are kinda screwed.

Boxers, like myself, are getting into teaching boxing for fitness after their career (read my blog on this HERE) or think they’ll just open a gym, but to do this correctly takes time to plan, or that could be a failure too.

It’s important that fighters do two things with their money before they spend it:

Number one is paying taxes. I’ve witnessed fighters in the past get screwed after their careers because they never paid taxes; open a business, hire a good accountant and get some education with it yourself. Don’t worry, they can write a lot of stuff off, but trust me, this is a must!

Number two is investing your money. I only had 10 pro fights but I managed to buy five houses. I put 25% down on properties around £55k-£70k in worth, got tenants in and set up a repayment over 15 years.

By the time I’m 40 they will all be paid off and would have gone up in value, so this will be my pension. This security helps me sleep at night.

There are other things to invest in too, you just have to be smart about it.

It’s a strange world out there after boxing. We dedicate our lives to the sport, but we need to make sure we are sorted for life after fighting and by thinking of your future, you are doing that.