Former light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill has revealed he plans to take time out from fighting after acknowledging that he’s not been performing at his best during his current losing slump.
The 34-year-old Hill has now lost three fights in a row, starting with a 1st round KO defeat against Alex Pereira in April of last year, followed by a 3rd round TKO loss to Jiri Prochazka and then most recently a unanimous decision defeat against Khalil Rountree Jr last month, and he largely blames that on not taking enough time out to recover from past injuries.
“I know there was a lot made and said of the things before the fight, me saying the comments of Khalil’s not on my level and said the same my last few fights, but to be honest, I haven’t been on my level,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “I haven’t been on my level now for quite some time. I think that people severely underestimate the injuries that I’ve dealt with and the things and the challenges that I’ve had to overcome with that.
“An Achilles tear to an athlete is a career-ender, is a career-ender in a lot of cases to many, many people. Then you compile that with the injuries that I’ve also dealt with. The tears to the knees from trying to come back and force my way back in the timing that I did.
“I’ve gone against a lot of advice that I was given by my team and people close to me in taking my time, building back on my injuries, and those things, and I feel that’s something that I’m not going to be able to escape and sort of say.”
It appears that his lackluster loss to Rountree a few weeks ago was the final straw that’s led Hill to realize that he has to take some time out to let his body heal and train more effectively to get back to the form that led to him becoming a champion in the first place.
“For now, I’m going to take the time that I need to make sure that I can focus on my injuries, give them the time that they need to get them back to strength and back to feeling like me again. I haven’t felt like myself in quite some time now. I haven’t been able to do the things I like. I haven’t run since the injury, just a feeling of maybe I can’t, things like that, just the strength not being there to my legs. That’s something that has to change. I have to change the amount of work that I’m willing to do, the amount of push that I give in my preparation. I’m fighting the best in the world right now and I’m at a championship level and I must live like a champion.”
“I’m going to take time out, take a little bit of time to get back to where I know I can be and get back to that exciting fighter and that dominant champion that I know that I am,” he added.”
