IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale (23-1-1, 14 KOs), 31 years old, is looking to fight by December.
The boxer is still recovering from a shoulder injury. He's been on the bench since undergoing surgery on a torn rotary cuff following his draw with then WBC super middleweight king Badou Jack at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in January.
The goal for DeGale is to make up for lost time. He wants to fight at least three times in 2018 after coming back to the ring n December.
"Hopefully by the end of September I'll be able to punch, by October I'll be able to spar again, so I'll be back in December," DeGale said to BBC Sports. "I want to box three times next year."
DeGale, who dropped Jack in the opening round and then suffered a knockdown of his own in the final round, believes that he would have beaten Jack if not for the injuries that he suffered during the bout.
"I was boxing handicapped, 100% I'd have beaten Jack without it," DeGale said. "It was my nose as well - I had a deviated septum, where the cartilage had come over so I couldn't breathe through my nose."
The injury and long recovery prevent DeGale from joining the ongoing super middleweight title in the World Boxing Super Series.
Several of his countryman are part of the WBSS, including undefeated Callum Smith, WBA champion George Groves, IBO champion Chris Eubank Jr. and undefeated Jamie Cox.
Groves is still the only boxer to defeat DeGale. He welcomes the opportunity to avenge that May 2011 defeat.
"I think that's false. It's a big-money fight and he doesn't like me. That fight's always going to be there. I want the winner, and I think the winner is Groves or Smith," DeGale said.