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Chris Cozzone: Duke City boxer Max Heyman won't retire when he becomes firefighter
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The next time Albuquerque's Max Heyman sees action, he'll be fighting fire, not foes in the ring.
Starting in July, Heyman will begin a five-month training period at the Albuquerque Fire Academy, to become a firefighter for the city.
"I've spent too many years not worrying about my future," says Heyman. "The time for a change was now."
The message he'd like to send other, younger fighters is clear: "You can never focus too much on boxing, but very, very few people can make it big. Very few make millions and retire successful. You have to do something. You have to have a backup plan."
Heyman's backup plan, however, isn't so much something to fall back on. It's the beginning of a lifelong career he hopes will challenge him as much as boxing.
"This is something I've wanted to do for a few years now," says Heyman, who has been working as an emergency medical technician. "It's something I'll enjoy doing, something that'll make me proud at the end of a day.
"Even if I'd made a million and retired a world champ, I'd still be going this way."
Training to fight fires, however, does not mean that Heyman is through with boxing.
This story was supposed to be on Heyman's official retirement. But the 28-year-old veteran says there's nothing official about it.
"Me, retire?," asked the Duke City light heavyweight who's racked up a record of 22-10-4 (13 KOs) in a 10-year career. "There's no truth to that at all."
So much for the rumor mill, which wasn't far-fetched when you consider that Heyman, in the last two years, has lost three of four bouts, two by knockout.
And Heyman has, for the last couple of years, mentioned retirement and talked about giving boxing just "one more solid chance."
The losses, however, have not convinced him it's time to retire.
In his last fight, Heyman lost by technical knockout to undefeated Dallas fighter Chris Henry for the vacant North American Boxing Federation light heavyweight belt. And both of his losses last year - to undefeated Canadian contender Adrian Diaconu and former title challenger Rubin Williams - were for minor belts.
Diaconu might've blown through Heyman, but the decision loss to Williams was, according to both Heyman and several colleagues ringside at the fight, highly disputable.
As for his last bout, the TKO loss to Henry?
"That last one was a bunch of B.S.," says Heyman. "I was fouled, hit in the back of the head and was not allowed to recover. They gave it to Henry. He was a good fighter, but nothing special; and I thought I was doing OK in the fight.
"If nothing else, I know I can't go out that way. What eats at me is I had the ability to win those fights I lost."
Heyman has time to think about his next step.
"I'm starting to feel good again right now," he says. "I feel strong again. Since I've got other obligations now - five months at the academy - I got time to relax and think about everything.
"Then, I'll decide what to do."
Heyman is also considering going into mixed martial arts.
"The opportunity in MMA is huge. I have the kickboxing and wrestling background and, of course, the boxing behind me. It all adds up to what could be a very successful MMA career.
"It's something else to think about. For now, it's about firefighting, then I'll decide what to do about fighting again."
ET CETERA: Top Rank and Prime Time Productions will return to Isleta Resort and Casino for a Telefutura-televised card Friday, July 27. Headlining the card is former super-flyweight champion Martin Castillo (31-2-2, 17 KOs) of Los Angeles, opponent TBA. Also scheduled: Albuquerque's Ray Sanchez III (19-1, 13 KOs), Las Cruces' Austin Trout (10-1, 8 KOs) and Alejandro Perez (8-0, 4 KOs), of Salinas, Calif.
