Former AFL star Barry Hall has dramatically shelved his plans for a professional boxing career, saying his heart is not in it.
The 35-year-old former St Kilda, Sydney and Western Bulldogs key forward was apparently due to announce details of his first fight on Friday morning.
But Hall confirmed on Thursday night that he would not go into the ring professionally at all.
“(The decision) is certainly final and it’s the right one for me,” he told Fox Sport’s AFL 360 program.
“It’s a decision that I haven’t taken lightly.
“I said at the start of all this that if I’m not 100 per cent and I don’t do it properly, I won’t do it.
“I’m at that situation now – I think mentally and physically, I played 16 years of footy and I’ve gone to the well too many times in terms of competitive juices.
“To be fair to me and to be fair to the people paying to come watch me fight, I certainly wouldn’t want to rob them of the money.”
Hall was a junior Victorian boxing champion before he switched to football.
He said injuries were not to blame for his shock decision not to pursue a professional fight career, but added boxing is very tough and he did not want to disrespect the sport.
Asked how much money he would sacrifice by not going ahead with his much-anticipated professional boxing debut, Hall said: “if you look at it, nearly half a million dollars.”
Hall admitted he probably left it too late to switch to boxing.
He had hoped the change of sports would recharge his competitive instincts.
“I’ve been to the well a few times and dragged myself out of situations, challenges,” he said of his AFL career.
“This one, there’s not much left in the well.
“I probably did do it too late, I was probably a little bit ambitious.”
Hall is also aware there will be a lot of disappointment that he is not going ahead with boxing.
“It probably kept me going for a couple of weeks, because there have been a lot of people who have put in a lot of hard work,” he said.
“Then, I’ve come to the decision that I’m doing this for the wrong reasons.”