They say, all good things must come to an end.
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When the moment finally does arrive for Tasmanian sporting superstar Daniel Geale to call time on an incredible professional boxing career, he will have done his hometown Launceston proud, his country proud, his family proud and his fans extremely proud.
On Tuesday, former Olympic boxer Wayne Devlin said Geale should hang up his gloves as he has nothing left to prove.
That may be the case – no one could ever say Geale has left anything behind him in the ring. He always gives 100 per cent in training and in the ring when he fights.
The 36-year-old is yet to make a decision – publicly at least – following his second-round super-middleweight IBO title loss to Renold Quinlan at the Silverdome in Launceston last October.
Geale’s form over his last handful of fights hasn’t been up to the same standard his fans may have expected – he has lost four of past six professional bouts.
But that’s not to say his time has come.
Quinlan was hungry – extremely hungry to prove himself on the big stage. Geale was fighting in front of an extremely parochial home crowd and as most commentators saw it, “walked into a big left hook”. That can happen to any boxer. It certainly doesn’t mean his days of fighting are over.
That said, the former IBO, IBF and WBA world titleholder has been making some noises alluding to retirement on social media of late.
As The Examiner reported on Wednesday, Geale said on social media that over the past few months, he had found it difficult to get back involved in the sport.
“But I’ll keep training and we’ll see what happens next,” was his final word on the subject.
When Geale does make that final decision, it will be what’s best for him and his family.
Like his fellow former Brooks High School student Ricky Ponting before him, Geale will want to go out on his terms, with his head held high.
When Ponting retired from international cricket age 37, he had equalled Steve Waugh's record of 168 Test appearances for Australia and with a Test aggregate of 13,336 runs, second only to Sachin Tendulkar.
He had achieved everything an Australian cricketer possibly could.
Just like Ponting, Geale will bow out a champion and a true gentleman.
