Johnny Armour has officially announced his retirement seven and a half years after first claiming the WBU bantamweight title.

The 39-year-old hasn't fought since beating Delroy Spencer on points two years ago and the Chatham fighter has finally decided to hang up his gloves.

Armour said: "I didn't want to say that word retirement. I wanted to keep going but I may have been kidding myself and I'm not hungry enough anymore.

"I could get in the ring tomorrow or next week but if I have a fight again I want to be a champion and I want to be fighting for a title."

Armour rose to fame in December 2000, beating Ghanaian Francis Ampofo to take the vacant WBU bantamweight title with a unanimous decision. Ampofo challenged for the belt twice more in 2002 but on both occasions Armour claimed victory.

Those fights were the pinnacle of his career but Armour's greatest memory in the ring is defeating Ndabe Dube to claim the Commonwealth batamweight title in only his eighth bout.

See the full story in this week's Medway Messenger.