GARVEY Kelly has retired from professional boxing.

The 27-year-old Swindon welterweight has called time on his career after six fights, the last a below-par showing that saw him lose to journeyman Lee Connolly in December.

Kelly looked all set to be making a return to the squared circle in March as he looked to rebuild his career and work towards a summer showdown with town rival Ryan Martin.

But now the 27-year-old has decided to hang up the gloves.

"I've decided to call it a day," Kelly told the Adver. "I've been struggling with motivation and getting up and going training was getting harder and harder.

"It's really hard having a young family at home, but having to dedicate so much of my time to the gym.

"I love boxing and always will. I have spent at least seven years climbing uphill to get where I am.

"I started boxing at 20 and I'm 28 this year. The journey has been wicked but I feel like maybe it's time for a new chapter in my life.

"I would like to say thanks to all those who showed any kind of support. Swindon is a fight town and I'm proud to have been involved in such a cool group of people.

"Swindon's boxing community is full of really nice genuine people."

Kelly's Ferndale Road-based trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick added: “I am extremely proud to have been involved with Garvey because I think he is an exceptional human being.

“He has taught me a lot about how to be a man in the eight years that we have spent together - I think that I have taught him a lot.

“We have had long journey together. It has been eight years.

“When he came to me he was possibly a bit lost. He has found his way, he has got three kids, a lovely lady, he is a fantastic father, he a great example to everyone on how to conduct himself.”

Fitzpatrick felt Kelly, who signed management forms with world super-middleweight contender George Groves, who he turned professional in 2014, was ‘too nice’ to hit the top.

“I don’t want him to turn into a journeyman,” the Irishman said. “I don’t necessarily want him to retire coming off a loss either.

“Skillset isn’t enough in this game. You have to have a burning desire to prove people wrong. You have to want to be the best at everything; it is not about just being the best at fight night.

“I just wish he had that last ingredient, that nasty streak to be successful, and that is the only thing missing; to be better than everyone else, to prove everyone wrong all the time.

“He almost too nice a guy to want to do that all the time. It is a little bit sad because it is an end of a journey.”

Stablemate and training partner Luke Watkins hopes that one day, Kelly will return to the gym.

“He is my brother from another mother,” Watkins said. “We were in the amateurs together and we turned professional together, so it is hard to hear that he won’t fighting anymore.

“The door is always open for him to come back if he decides too.”