BOXER Chris Higgs is returning to the ring on September 30 after more than a year plagued by injuries and eye problems.

The 23-year-old Lydney based boxer will be up against Bulgarian, Danny Dontchev, in his first bout moving from light welter to welterweight at the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.

The fight marks more than a year out of action for Chris, who suffered a series of viruses, a broken ankle and damage to the superior oblique muscle which rotates the eye.

"At one stage I really thought my boxing career was over," Chris told the Review. "But now I've got it back on track and I've been training hard. I feel much stronger and I'm on a complete high, just relishing the prospects of climbing through the ropes again."

Higgs's last competitive fight was on April 24, 2010, after he had accumulated an unbeaten record of seven wins and was gearing for a possible title fight. Then injuries intervened, bringing his boxing career to a juddering and untimely halt.

Recovery has taken time, but Higgs has now been given the all clear by doctors and the British Boxing Board.

The Dontchev bout will come two days after Higgs's 24th birthday and should mark the start of the Forest fighter's bid to build on his previous record.