Jordan Gill has opened up on the reasons behind his period of inactivity.

The former Commonwealth and WBA International featherweight champion has been out of the ring since September.

Gill got back to winning ways in Italy at the back end of 2019 after suffering his maiden career defeat as a professional four months earlier.

Enrique Tinoco of Mexico was in the opposite corner to Gill in May at the Nottingham Arena when the Dave Coldwell-trained fighter was suffering from illness beforehand and was dropped three times before being pulled out at the end of the eighth round.

He came back, outpointed Yesner Talavera at the Tuscany Hall in Florence and was set to fight for a fourth time in the year –– on December 19 –– at the famous York Hall venue in Bethnal Green, London, exclusively live on Sky Sports and DAZN, as part of a JDNXTGEN card.

But painless subacute thyroiditis put paid to that outing and forced ‘The Thrill’ to be on the sidelines until it cleared up.

“I’m clear to box now and my medicals are due,” Gill told Rob Tebbutt of Boxing Social in an interview that can be watched at bit.ly/373VjMP. “My medicals are due so I’ll be going through those before my next fight. I’ve mapped out my perfect year and that consists of four fights.”

Gill has his sights set on the European title currently held by Andoni Gago, but knows he must ease his way back into the ring on the back of the health scare he suffered.

“We’re going to have an eight-rounder to come back and I think I’ll be ready around the end of March,” he added, “and I need to get my sharpness back and get the feet working.

“Then, I want a 10-rounder and we could maybe jump on one of those American cards to get some more experience and keep building and then, by that time, the situation with the European title might be cleared up.

“If that’s the case, we could fight the European champion –– maybe around September time –– and then, like I said, where better to make a first defence than Peterborough?”

Gill, from Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, won the aforementioned WBA International belt at the East of England Arena in Peterborough in March last year and he is keen to regain his status as a top player in the domestic division at 126 pounds sooner rather than later.

“All I’ve got to do is win the fights. Four fights this year to win and I’ll be back where I want to be, pushing on for the big stage and fighting fringe world-level fighters.”

Details regarding Gill’s return to the ring will follow in due course.