Carl Froch, the British four-time world super-middleweight champion, announced his ­retirement from boxing on Tuesday at the age of 38.

Froch, who was twice a winner of the World Boxing Council title and also a winner of the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation (IBF) belts during a highly successful career, admitted that he no longer had the desire to fight after spending over a year out of the ring.

"I'm officially retired from Boxing. So much to say & so many people to thank. But for now, I just want to say THANK YOU to my amazing fans," Froch wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

"It wasn't an easy decision but it wasn't as difficult as ­people might think," the fighter from Nottingham went on to tell BBC Radio 5 live.

"I turned 38 last week. My joints and bones are aching. If the desire was there, I could fight again but there's nothing motivating me.

"My legacy speaks for itself. I'm incredibly proud of what I have achieved in boxing but now is the right moment to hang up my gloves," added Froch, who will now become a boxing pundit on television.

Nicknamed The Cobra, Froch won 33 of his 35 fights, with 24 of those coming by knockout.

He defeated arch-rival George Groves in front of 80,000 people in a Wembley Stadium rematch which turned out to be his final fight in May of last year.

An elbow injury forced him out of a planned March 28 bout against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas.

At the time, Froch posted a photograph of his gloves hanging up on social media, sparking suggestions of a possible retirement.

Froch thought then that he would rediscover his appetite but reached the conclusion it was time to step away from the ring.

He vacated his IBF super-middleweight title in February as he continued to recover from the elbow injury that scuppered the Chavez Jr fight.

That allowed another British fighter, James DeGale, to claim the vacant title by defeating ­Andre Dirrell in Boston in May.