By Elliot Foster

Darryll Williams has turned his back on retirement and now has a return date.

The English super-middleweight champion announced late last year that he was quitting the sport.

But he has now revealed that he will be back in the ring on April 14 at the O2 Arena in London, exclusively live on BT Sport and BoxNation, as part of the supporting cast to Billy Joe Saunders’ WBO middleweight world title defence against Martin Murray and Terry Flanagan’s clash with undefeated Texan Maurice Hooker for the vacant WBO title at super-lightweight.

Williams will defend his English belt against Lennox Clarke on the card and will box alongside a whole host of Frank Warren-promoted prospects in the shape of Harvey Horn, Daniel Dubois, Anthony Yarde and Ryan Garner.

"I'm chomping at the bit to get back in the ring," said Williams. "I'm quite surprised at how quickly I've been able to get back to full fitness and get my mind back in the game. I've been training harder than ever and I'm ready to go again.

"I’ve watched Clarke's win over Smyle and all I took from it is that he beat an already defeated man. By the time Clarke fought Smyle, he was already a well defeated fighter mentally. He had two all-out wars with me and some tough fights before that.

"Up until he scored a knockdown in round nine I actually had Clarke losing the fight. Smyle was pressuring Clarke and pushing him back, if he can't handle Smyle then what am I going to do to him?

"I'd love to fight for the British title this year. I want to move on from the English title after this defence because I know that I can go further than this level. I've won Southern Area and English titles, the next step on my journey is to win the British title."

"This is a fight that I have wanted for a long time," said Clarke. "Darryll is a very dangerous opponent and it's going to be a tough fight but I'm very confident of getting the win. We've both boxed Jahmaine Smyle in our last fights and I beat him comfortably while Darryll went life and death with him twice."

Jack Flatley will be back in action on the card and is expected to challenge Lee Mullender for the IBF European title at middleweight.

The bill is also set to feature Ohara Davies, while Johnny Garton, Sanjeev Singh Sahota and Jake Pettitt, whose brother Lewis Pettitt will take on Raza Hamza on the card.

In other news, Andrew Selby will challenge Vincent Legrand for the vacant European flyweight title on April 28 at the Salle Theo Bouton in Douai, Nord in France.

Meanwhile, Qais Ashfaq and Osman Aslam, both of whom scored wins on Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing’s JDNXTGEN card at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester last Sunday, have been added to the undercard of Amir Khan’s long-awaited return against Phil Lo Greco on April 21 at the ECHO Arena in Liverpool, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

Ryan Hatton has been confirmed as an addition to the April 21 undercard of Carl Frampton’s clash against Nonito Donaire at the SSE Arena in Belfast.

Lyon Woodstock, the WBO European super-featherweight champion, will be back in the ring on May 19 at Elland Road in Leeds, exclusively live on BT Sport and BoxNation, as part of the undercard to Lee Selby’s defence of the IBF featherweight world title against hometown boy Josh Warrington.

And Sean McGoldrick will see action on March 31, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office, as part of the undercard to the heavyweight unification showdown between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker, for the IBF, IBO, WBA Super and WBO world titles, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.