Former two-division world champion Nigel Benn will not return to the ring as planned, as a training injury has forced him to cancel his feared ring return on November 23 in Birmingham.

Benn, at 55-years-old, was scheduled to face Sakio Bika, 40, despite the mountain of calls for the British boxer to stay retired.

Benn has been inactive for over two decades. The fight was sanctioned by the British and Irish Boxing Authority after the British Boxing Board of Control refused to get involved.

According to Benn, he injured 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.

His son, undefeated prospect Conor Benn, had 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.”

Conor was in action this past weekend on the undercard to Josh Taylor-Regis Prograis, when he knocked out Steve Jamoye at the O2 Arena in London.