David Haye, the former WBA heavyweight champion, went ahead with his long held ambition to retire on his 31st birthday on Thursday, putting to bed speculation that he would return to the ring this winter and fight WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. Haye, who unified the cruiserweight division before ascending to the heavyweight ranks in 2008, lost a one-side decision to Wladimir Klitschko in a multi-title unification match in July.

Haye claims to have no regrets over his decision to turn his back on the ring, and is now focusing on a career in acting.

"Once you don't have any drive, focus or desire, that's when I assume you start spiraling downhill, so the acting will be something new for me. I want to go into action films. I am looking forward to it," said Haye in an interview this week. "The next phase for me is trying to become the best possible actor I can be, and taking the same sort of philosophy and mindset I had in the ring into the acting world. It will be a good way for me to keep training as well. My whole life I have been in good condition so I just have to keep that up."

Haye believes his retirement win signal a slump in the heavyweight division. 

"In the division you are not going to be getting any more exciting nights now, unfortunately," Haye said. "Wladimir is now challenging Jean-Marc Mormeck - a guy who I knocked out at cruiserweight. It will be one of the most unappealing heavyweight contests for many years. It paints a really bleak picture for the future of the division. I can't think why a person who has as many titles as Wladimir is challenging someone who has done nothing. It makes me think the division is back to what it was before I got here - it's a shame but that's the way it goes."