John Ryder has admitted he was considering the prospect of his clash with Daniel Jacobs being his final fight as he walked to the ring.
The British star secured a split-decision victory over Jacobs in a bumper event at Alexandra Palace earlier this month.
Before the fight, calls were made that the loser of the super-middleweight clash could face retirement from the sport after missing out on a world-title shot.
Ryder admitted these thoughts crossed his mind during the ring walk, but is now ready to move on after prevailing in the title eliminator.
“Listen during the ring walk I probably lost a bit of focus because I put the pressure on myself that this could be the last time I fight," Ryder told Mirror Fighting.
"I thought to myself, I have to take this in and savour this moment because it could be the last time I do it. It was my first time back in London since 2018, I embraced the ring walk and soaked up the atmosphere.
"It was all blue you just see another man in front of you. Listen, it is each to their own. For me, I am 34 in July, I have a partner and two children. My partner has invested in her own career so I can live mine.
"I have to repay that at some point and if boxing isn’t paying my way for me to carry on I have to look at other paths and avenues.
“Luckily we live on to see another day, personally for me there are not massive miles on the clock and hard fights. So I feel like I have a lot of time to go on.
"This is a personal thing for me that I can’t keep putting myself and my family through this, to go back in six and eight rounders which aren’t financially viable."
Victory for Ryder now stands him in good stead as he has now put himself in a position to secure a mandatory shot against undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.
However it is likely that the Mexican could move up to 175lbs as he remains in discussions with Eddie Hearn to stage two fights against Dmitry Bivol followed by a trilogy with Gennady Golovkin on a return to 168lbs.
This could delay any potential shot at Alvarez with David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo also offering challenges to the pound-for-pound king.
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After his victory, Ryder has admitted he could join a queue to face Alvarez, but has encouraged the Mexican to vacate the belts to prevent any hold up.
“I am not too sure, I will speak to the management and see what happens," Ryder continued. "Canelo has mandatory challengers coming out of his ears at the moment.
“Listen if Canelo wants to fight me I will fight him wherever he wants to fight. I will fight anyone I have to fight for it. If it’s Danny Jacobs again for the vacant belts I will do it, Jake Paul even!
“Canelo is a great ambassador for the sport. What he has done for the super- middleweight division is incredible by unifying the division. However if he is going to switch up to light-heavyweight it would be a shame to hold things up at 168.
"Listen, I hope he can vacate the titles if he wants to, I know there was talk of him fighting Dmitry Bivol and Gennady Golovkin.
"If he is going to do that fair play, but it is only right that he vacates the belts keep hold of the Ring Magazine if you like, you are still No.1.
'Let us fight for these vacant belts, let the belts fragment and some new champions been formed and get the big fights going again."
