Kelly Pavlik, 30, retires with a 40-2 record and 34 knockouts. (Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

Citing concerns about his health and motivation, 30-year-old Kelly Pavlik told ESPN.com that he will retire from boxing.

The former middleweight champion boasts a lifetime record of 40-2, including 34 knockouts. He held the title belt from 2007, when he defeated Jermain Taylor, to 2010, when he lost to Sergio Martinez, making three successful defenses in between.

Pavlik told ESPN’s Dan Rafael that concern over future medical problems, as well as a lack of drive to continue fighting, led to his decision to retire.

“When you stay in the sport too long you have health problems. That’s a big, big thing for me,” Pavlik said. “I’m not talking about now. I’m talking about in the future. I’m talking about when I’m 55 or 60. What’s gonna happen to me then? Why take any more chances, especially in that sport. It’s a brutal sport and you never know what can happen.

Pavlik took two separate layoffs of nearly a full year between 2010 and 2012, facing personal problems that included alcoholism, a contract dispute and a breakup with trainer Jack Loew. He has plans to open a gym in his native Youngstown, Ohio.

He was scheduled to challenge super middleweight champion Andre Ward on Jan. 26, but the fight was pushed back and eventually cancelled because of Ward’s shoulder injury. Pavlik said that the cancellation may have been a blessing in disguise.

“I’ve been a pro for 13 years and doing this since I was 9,” he said. “I go away for two or three months at a time (to train) and I’m tired of leaving my family. It comes to a point where you just don’t want to do that anymore. I put my money away and then with the Ward fight being canceled, well, health and time with my family is more important at this stage, especially with no guaranteed big fight or date.”

Super middleweight champ Andre Ward, who fought just one match in 2012, will make his sixth title defense in January. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Super middleweight champion Andre Ward will defend his unified titles against former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik on Jan. 26 in Los Angeles, reports ESPN.com.

The 28-year-old, 168-pound Ward, ranked No. 2 in SI.com’s pound-for-pound top 15, fought just one match in 2012 because of a hand injury.

This will be his sixth title defense, and will be part of HBO’s “World Championship Boxing” doubleheader at the Galen Center, home of USC basketball. A heavyweight, title elimination bout between Cristobal Arreola and Bermane Stiverne will be the co-feature, with the winner challenging titleholder Vitali Klitschko.

Pavlik, who boasts a 40-2 record and 34 knockouts, held the middleweight title from 2007 to 2010.

ESPN.com has more on the two super middleweights, whose promoters began negotiating the fight in mid-October:

[Ward], the 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, who won the Super Six World Boxing Classic in December by easily outpointing England’s Carl Froch to unify two of the 168-pound belts in the tournament final, is coming off a devastating performance on Sept. 8. He destroyed light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson, another pound-for-pound caliber fighter. Dawson dropped down in weight for the fight and Ward (26-0, 14 KOs) routed him, scoring three knockdowns en route to a 10th-round knockout.

Many view Pavlik as an easier assignment for Ward than Dawson or some of his Super Six opponents, such as Froch and Mikkel Kessler, because he has not had a significant win in a few years and has had outside the ring issues.