“I know if I went back to the gym my mindset would change. I was out for a year and I went back in 2017. Within the space of a week it was like I never left,” he said.

“I was training and that would probably be the case again (if he went back). I would fall back into the groove, but it’s a brutal sport, it’s a vicious sport.

“You have to be hungry, you have to want it. If I really wanted it I would be on the phone to Adam (Adam Booth coach) every day.”

The former St Francis BC lefty, Ireland’s only boxer at the 2004 Olympics, retires after 227 rounds of prizefighting with 35 wins from 39 outings and a 62% KO ratio.

Lee was one of the first members of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) High-Performance Unit and claimed European Elite and World Youth medals for his country.

The 33-year-old beat Mexico’s Alfredo Aquilo in his first fight at Athens 2004 but lost out on a countback to Hassan Hassan N’Dam of Cameroon after a draw in the last 16 of the tournament.

Lee claimed the WBO belt in 2014, a title once held by N’Dam, in 2014 after stopping Russia’s Matt Korobov in Las Vegas, two years after his coach at the Detroit Kronk, Emanuel Steward, passed away.

“Boxing was my life. It was always boxing. I could have continued to my detriment,” added Lee.

“I can never repay boxing, but I’ll try if I can.”