MARK ALEXANDER suggested that he may retire from boxing just moments after the successful defence of his BlackBeard MMA heavyweight title.

Alexander, 47, beat Javed Hanif after a second round stoppage in the main event of Strikers Night II at the Magnet Leisure Centre in Maidenhead.

The Slough-based star believes it was a better performance than when he first won the title on the promotions original show in April, but he admits that time may have caught up with him now.

Speaking to the Observer, the champion said: “I am 47 and if I’m still doing this at my age, and Javed is 10-15 years younger than me, then I’ve got to take a little bit of credit out of that.

“I’ve got to credit my training partner Dan Gaut and coach Nomaan Khalid for making me that fit, but I’m the one who has to put it in. I’m the one that has to get up when my bones are aching and I’ve taken a lot of pride out of this.

“I don’t know how many more times I can do this to my wife [Joan Alexander] because she was in pieces, so this could be my last fight. She had the paramedics with her so I’m putting her through too much now.

“I’ve done my bit but I’m going to help Dan retain his PowerBox title, help him with some sparring, but I don’t think I can keep on doing this to my wife. I will have to know when time has caught up with me.”

Commenting on the successful defence of his heavyweight title, the veteran figher said: “Javed was actually a lot bigger than I thought he would be and he come at me really hard.

“I could see he didn’t have much in the way of cardio fitness but he was very powerful and caught me with three, four or maybe five strong hooks to the head.

“I weathered the storm and then I could see he was getting tired. My corner kept on saying pop the jab and I caught him a couple of times towards the end of the first round.

“In the second round he was there for the taking and I just unloaded on him.

“I made the mistake of trying to get involved in a scrap with him, which I should not have done because I’m a lot fitter and quicker. I should have danced around the ring.

“But, I like a war as well and he wanted to bring me a war, and I knew I had the better power and fitness. I know I could have done that war for five rounds and he struggled to do one.

“My training has been on point and I love Dan, he has put me through my paces. He didn’t quite put me through my paces like that guy did but sparring never replicates a fight and Nomaan is the best coach around.”

Alexander continued: “I could see Javed had a lot more game about him than I ever anticipated, but even towards the end of the first round he was huffing and puffing.

“He had already given me his best so I thought his gameplan was to take me out in the first minute. After that, I started to connect with him because he didn’t have any form of guard.

“And once we got into the second round I knew he was just eating punches and he was never going to get up. He didn’ot want to get up he was finished.

“I just saw his head was open and he had no guard. I hit him with a left hock and followed through with a right to the temple and he just seemed to crash to his knees.

"I can't really remember it because I was throwing punches in a flurry."

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