DISAPPEARING ACT
TOUCHING down in Mérida International Airport, George Jupp had accepted an invite into boxing’s unknown. As the ink of his passport stamp struggled to dry in the Yucatán state capital’s humidity, beads of sweat trickled down the side of his jet-lagged face, while he attempted to answer questions from the assembled press. A rabbit in the headlights of a Mexican fight week, Jupp struggled to catch his breath. The hard assignment ahead of him now seemed closer to impossible.
Over four years have passed since and Jupp’s life is unrecognisable to the one mixing it with the cream of the 130-pound crop. A pie and mash shop is where the Bexley fighter now feels most comfortable, 5,000 miles from a ring that defined his previous career.
“I WASN’T INTERESTED IN AN ATTENTION-SEEKING RETIREMENT. THAT JUST ISN’T ME. I KNEW, MY FAMILY KNEW AND MY TRAINER KNEW”
“You know that I’ve called it a day though, mate?” George Jupp, 15-3 (4), messaged me modestly ahead of a rare interview. I confirmed my assumption on his retirement, as he kindly agreed to elaborate to Boxing News. Since a shutout victory over journeyman Damian Lawniczak in February 2017, Jupp has disappeared from the boxing world. After speaking to
