Tommy Frank Announces His Retirement From Boxing

Tommy Frank Announces His Retirement From Boxing

It was always a case of when this day was coming, and not if, so the announcement that Tommy Frank was waving goodbye to boxing hardly came as a surprise.

Frank last fought in 2023, when he was stopped inside a round in Birmingham by the former Olympic Champion Galal Yafai. The Sheffield-born Frank hinted at the time that would be his last fight. And so it has proved.

The career of Frank ended on two straight defeats, but he can look back with much pride on his twenty-fight professional career.

Frank claimed the vacant Commonwealth super-flyweight title in 2019 courtesy of a 4th round stoppage victory over Luke Wilton at the Ponds Forge Arena in Sheffield. Frank looked very good that night, knocking down Wilton four times, and he looked set for bigger things.

A move down to flyweight followed a few fights later, but back-to-back defeats to the tough Mexican Rosendo Hugo Guarneros derailed the hype somewhat. After thirteen victories, Frank lost his unbeaten record in those dark Covid times that was 2020 to Guarneros after retiring after eight rounds due to a shoulder injury. And when Frank lost the rematch on points the following year, he faced an uncertain future. But his promoter Dennis Hobson is a master of bringing his fighters back from the brink, and he managed to forge another opportunity for his fighter only a few months later.

In his very next fight, Frank won a lopsided decision over Matt Windle to win the British flyweight title. A draw with Craig Derbyshire in 2022 saw Frank retain his British title. But a 10th-round stoppage defeat to the classy Jay Harris in Rotherham later that year cost Frank his title.

It was a fight where Frank perhaps got his tactics wrong. He set out at a blistering pace and, at times, threatened to overwhelm the former world title challenger. But Harris rode out the storm and gradually took control. The fight was still extremely close on the cards in that pivotal 10th round, but Frank was fading and was saved for another day by his corner when the towel was thrown in. It was a good old-fashioned British title fight. A throwback to another era. A time when the paying punters would have thrown coins in the ring as a sign of their appreciation. Harris and Frank served up one of the best British title fights of recent times.

The one-sided defeat to Yafai was a sad way to go out. In many ways, it was one fight too many.

Frank says he overachieved as a pro, but I disagree slightly. The Glyn Rhodes trained-fighter probably had a little more to give, certainly at domestic level. But at 31, Tommy Frank leaves the sport with a more than respectable 15-4-1 record. A good fighter who achieved far more than he would have thought possible when he turned professional in 2016 with little fanfare.