Nicola Adams said that she feared the shoulder injury that put off her world-title challenge in March could have possibly ended her career if she had decided to box on with it.

Adams, the double Olympic champion, had been due to challenge Arely Mucino for the WBO flyweight title, but pulled out with an injury to her left shoulder. Having sat out nearly a year of her amateur career after winning Commonwealth Games gold in 2016, she knew the signs and decided to seek early treatment.

“I recognised the pain, so I went to the doctors straight away,” Adams said. “There are no problems with it now.

“We didn't want it to get that far. I might have trained and it could have been all right, but it might have gone completely the opposite way and I am out for even longer.

“We didn't want to take that chance. Time is not on my side if I take that amount of time off rather than a short time. I’d rather take a few weeks rather than risk ten months or a year.”

By chance, Adams picked up the title without going through with the fight. She had been the WBO’s interim champion, but when Mucino was injured in a car accident, Adams was upgraded to full champion, despite not having now boxed in 11 months.

On Friday, she makes the first defence of that title against Maria Salinas, of Mexico, at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

“I’m really happy I got upgraded, but I wanted to fight for the title,” Adams said. “You want to be able to go out and earn it, now I am getting the chance to do that and I will feel like a real world champion.”