BREAKING: Nigel Benn pulls out of comeback Sakio Bika fight due to shoulder injury

Nigel Benn has been left "heartbroken" as his return to boxing has been cancelled after he suffered an injury to his shoulder in training camp. Benn was due to fight Sakio Bika in Birmingham on November 23, despite calls for the 55-year-old to not go ahead with the controversial bout. Bika, 40, is a former world champion, while Benn hasn’t fought in over two decades, with his last fight coming against Steve Collins. Benn had previously told Express Sport that he was fitter than ever and had the "lungs of a 25-year-old".

But his comeback has been left in tatters, after injuring his shoulder at the Matchroom boxing gym in Essex. "I have been dreaming of a one-off fight for years and I'm heartbroken I've had to call it off," he told The Sun. The fight was sanctioned by the British and Irish Boxing Authority after the British Boxing Board of Control refused to sanction it themselves. Benn had been warned by ex-professionals to refuse the temptation of getting back into the sport after so long out of the ring.

Nigel Benn 'heartbroken' as boxing return vs Sakio Bika called off due to shoulder injury

His son Conor told Express Sport earlier this month: “I still can’t believe it’s happening. It makes me anxious. More anxious than my own fight. It’s crazy. I don’t want him to fight at all. "He’s doing it for himself, if it was for money and fame I’d be so against it. I’d be like ‘that is so selfish’. “But he lives in Australia so it’s nothing to do with fame. And he’s just bought a six-bedroom mansion with a theatre and pool on Sydney so it’s not about money either.”