Lytham's Scotty Cardle vows to carry on after paying serious thought to retiring after Ricky Burns defeat

Lytham’s Scotty Cardle has vowed to continue with his boxing career after thinking long and hard about whether to call it a day.
Scotty Cardle suffered a devastating defeat against Ricky Burns in his last fightScotty Cardle suffered a devastating defeat against Ricky Burns in his last fight
Scotty Cardle suffered a devastating defeat against Ricky Burns in his last fight
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The 29-year-old was badly beaten in his last fight, suffering a third-round knockout by former three-weight world champion Ricky Burns in November.

Former world champion Carl Froch was among those calling for Cardle to retire and following the fight the lightweight told The Gazette it was something he would have to consider.

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Cardle feels he’s now had enough time to think about the future and believes carrying on is the right thing to do.

“I’ve had a good think over Christmas and New Year’s and I must admit, I was thinking of packing it in,” he told The Gazette.

“But I haven’t had any signs in training that it’s time to call it a day and when those signs do come, and to be fair it could happen in the next training camp, if that’s the case I’ll happily pack it in.

“With that devastating defeat it was a thought of mine. But me personally, I believe I need more signs to tell me that it’s game over.

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“The condition I was in for my last fight showed that I’m not ready to call it a day yet.

“That being said, I know I’ve got a big job on my hands to rebuild my career. I know I haven’t got long left because I’m a late developer.

“I know I’m only 29 but I know my own body. I do think retirement is not too far away, but I need to see the signs and I need to see more.

“I also don’t want to pack it in the way I left it, I don’t want to go out on a devastating loss. That’s not my personality.

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“So I’m going to get back into training and just take it from there and I’ll play it all by ear.

“If I do notice little things in training then it might be the right time to end it.”

Before facing Burns in Manchester, Cardle – who has now lost three of his 27 fights – was originally scheduled to face Joe Cordina for the Commonwealth title, only for the Welshman to pull out through injury.

While Cardle accepts he’s in no position to be calling people out, he says that is a fight that still interests him.

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“I’m just focusing on getting my fitness back, getting my weight down and really just going from there,” he added.

“Since the New Year I haven’t really had any phone calls or anything like that, so I’m just focusing on myself for now.

“But the sooner I get told the next opponent the better really so I can focus on whoever it will be and whenever it will be.

“My promoter Eddie Heard said after my last fight that the Joe Cordina fight would still be on the table, so that could be option.

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“He’s in recovery from an injury at the moment so I don’t think he’ll be back out until April time.

“There’s also the British title, which I feel like I need because I’m only one win away from winning that outright, so that would be ideal.

“But I know I’m not in a position to call out people and choose what options to go down, but any high level fight or title fight I would be pleased to be involved in.

“I still feel as though the Cordina fight is inevitable and it needs to happen, but if there are any other options we’ll just have to wait and see.”

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Looking back on the Burns defeat, Cardle believes the late change of opponent is a major factor in the nature of his defeat.

“Going into the fight I felt as though I wasn’t tactically ready. Whoever’s fault that is, that’s not the problem,” he said.

“The problem is I wasn’t ready for the gameplan, so I do blame a lot on the preparation.

“It’s the first time I’ve been put on the canvas and it’s not something that I’d like to do again.”