By Vadim Pushkin

Russian light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev is fully recovered from a shoulder injury and is looking to return to the ring on a date in March or April.

Beterbiev (9-0, 9 KOs) was in position to take part in an IBF final eliminator, but was forced to withdraw from the planned opportunity due to the injury.

He was scheduled to face Karo Murat in the IBF eliminator on November 28th as part of the Showtime televised undercard to the James DeGale-Lucian Bute super middleweight clash from Quebec, Canada.

After withdrawing from his position, a new eliminator was ordered and took place in December with unbeaten Sullivan Barrera stopping Karo Murat in five rounds to secure the IBF's mandatory slot.

Barrera is now likely to enter into a fight with Andre Ward on March 26th in Oakland. If he loses that fight, then he will also lose his IBF mandatory ranking and Beterbiev can find himself right back in a final eliminator. The current champion is Sergey Kovalev, who is slated to return in the summer.

"There are some preliminary dates [for my return], but they are around March-April. I've been training for a long time. I've spent my time training in boxing, but now I need to test [my body] in sparring," Beterbiev said.

Beterbiev is promoted by Yvon Michel of GYM and advised by Al Haymon, who also advises numerous other light heavyweights including WBC champion Adonis Stevenson (who Michel also promotes).