By Edward Chaykovsky

Former middleweight champion Daniel Geale (31-4, 16KOs) is back in camp, training hard and preparing for a return in the new year at the super middleweight limit of 168-pounds.

Geale suffered a brutal knockout loss to WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto in four rounds back in June.

The Australian star said he was very weak from meeting the stipulated catch-weight of 157-pounds for the contest. He says Cotto refused to grant him the fight without the catch-weight stipulation.

"We knew we had the odds stacked against us and it was extremely tough having to get down that extra little bit of weight," Geale said to ABC of Australia. "It makes a big difference so all you can do is live and learn and I know now that I'm not going to do that to myself anymore. I've decided to go up a weight division."

Geale, 34-years-old, admits that he sat down and had to thoroughly map out his future options after suffer what was his second knockout loss in his last three fights. He was stopped in three rounds by WBA/IBF/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin last July.

"I had to sit back and work out what my goals were, my priorities, and I felt that I still had a little bit more to offer so we decided we were going to make a few changes," he said.

"I'm going to jump up a weight division, I'm not going to be struggling to make weight anymore and there's some big fights on the horizon. I guess it was a little bit of a crossroads, I never felt at any stage, though, that that's it for boxing and I'm never going to box again or anything like that. I love the sport and I love the challenge of the sport and I believe I've still got more to offer. We're looking to fight in Australia, probably early next year."