Naseem Hamed has dismissed suggestions that he is unlikely to box again by insisting he is on track for a return to the ring this year.
The 29-year-old has been out of action for 12 months since a lacklustre points win over Manuel Calvo in London last May.
Before that he had taken just over another year out to recover from his first professional loss to Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas.
With a proposed comeback against Manchester's Michael Brodie being repeatedly put on hold, Hamed's former promoter Frank Warren expressed his belief that the Prince was ready to hang up his gloves.
However, Hamed told www.boxing-central.com: "I'd like to thank Frank for his concern. I'm doing fine and looking forward to boxing later this year, insha Allah (God willing)."
Hamed can boast 17 successful world title fights among his 36 wins, but Warren feels the big-punching Yorkshireman has never quite fulfilled his enormous potential.
He said: "I don't think he'll fight again. I don't think his heart's in it. He's comfortable, he's made a lot of money, he spends a lot of time with his family and he doesn't need to fight.
"If he does fight again now he'll be under a lot of scrutiny and a lot of people will be asking if he's still got it - he didn't look like he still had it in his last fight.
"I think at one stage he was the most exciting fighter that I'd ever been involved with and I do believe at one stage, in the early part of his career, he could have gone on to become one of the great fighters.
"But that disappeared when he didn't fight as regularly as he should have done, when he was cutting corners on his training. It just didn't work out for him from that point on."
Maybe there is still time for Hamed to prove Warren wrong on both counts.