Nigel Benn comeback: Former world champion labelled ‘fittest 55-year-old on planet Earth’
Benn was denied a license by the BBBofC, who insist the risks are too big
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Your support makes all the difference.Nigel Benn has been described as "the fittest 55-year-old on planet Earth" ahead of his intended return to boxing 23 years after retiring.
The former middleweight and super-middleweight world champion last fought in 1996 in a loss to Steve Collins but is pushing ahead with an incredible comeback.
The latest step is a press conference called for Thursday with a proposed date for his ring return on November 23, with Sakio Bika his expected opponent.
Benn's promoter Mark Peters told the BBC: "It's not like Nigel left the sport, hung up his gloves and never trained again. He must be the fittest 55-year-old on planet Earth.
"He has still been training twice a day and he will shadow box anywhere. I wouldn't support Nigel if I didn't believe he was fit to box.
"Nor is he doing this for financial reasons. He is far from skint - in fact, he has just built a massive 10-bedroom property for himself in Australia, where he lives.
"It's his life and his prerogative to fight. From his point of view, this is closure for him."
The encounter will be licensed by the British and Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA), rather than the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC).
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