Former WBC junior middleweight and middleweight champion, Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez, is already gearing up to return to the ring before the end of the year.

After returning on August 21 with a victory inside the limit at the expense of Jose Miguel Fandino in Torrelavega and a couple of weeks that he qualifies as "active rest", the boxer began a double shift of training under the orders of coach Tinin Rodríguez and physical trainer David Navarro.

"It has been an intense day, quite intense, you know, a lot of work it is very good to work like that, it is great to see the progress come so fast, very fast," Martinez told Telam.

Martinez is looking to fight again in early December, on the 1st or 2nd.

"The dates are tentative, but in principle my team and I agreed on [early December] and unless things get complicated for us with COVID-19, we will fight on those days, at most a week later, but surely against a more demanding rival than Fandino, someone harder who will allow us to evaluate where I am standing," Martinez said.

Martinez's return was his first fight since 2014, when he was knocked out by Miguel Cotto.

After that loss, Martinez retired from the sport due to nagging injuries with his knees.

The former champion, whose record is 52-3-2 with 29 knockouts, recently received a high ranking in the sixth position among the top ten middleweights under the World Boxing Association (WBA).

"Of course it surprised me a bit, it is all happening very fast, but in boxing these things happen, some have come against me [over that ranking]... but this has come to my advantage and I will try to take advantage of it," said Martinez.

The boxer is hoping to eventually get a crack at WBA "regular" champion Ryota Murata of Japan, who has not entered the ring since December 23, 2019 when he won by TKO in five rounds over Canadian Steven Butler.