FORMER SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT WORLD champion Nigel Benn has been forced to cancel his feared ring return at the age of 55 after suffering a shoulder injury in training.

‘The Dark Destroyer’ had been officially scheduled to end a 23-year ring absence next month against fellow former 168-pound world-titleholder Sakio Bika in Birmingham on 23 November, much to the concern of the wider boxing public.

Benn, however, confirmed to the Sun newspaper in the UK on Monday that he will not now step through the ropes for a one-off comeback bout.

The Essex native retired following consecutive world-title defeats to Ireland’s Steve Collins in 1996.

A little-known, so-called sanctioning body by the name of the ‘British and Irish Boxing Authority’ (BIBA) — which was founded as recently as 2016 — had granted Benn a licence to return to the professional ring in the UK. It’s understood that the widely accepted British boxing board, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), refused to give the fight their blessing.