Boxing's leading promoters have called on Nigel Benn to abandon his plans for a comeback.
The former two-weight world champion will announce his return today at the age of 55, 23 years after his last professional fight.
He is expected to take on another former world champion in Sakio Bika who last fought in 2017.
But both Frank Warren, who promoted Benn at the beginning and end of his career, and Eddie Hearn have advised the veteran to have a rethink.
Warren said: "I don’t know if he is doing it for financial reasons but, whatever reason, he shouldn’t be doing it.
"I don’t want him to do it. I have a lot of love for him.
"I promoted the start of his career and he finished his career with me.
"Fifty-five-year-old men should not be fighting, especially when they’ve been out of the ring for 23 years.
"I hope he is not doing it for financial reasons. It can’t be good for his health.
"He is well loved by the British public, he is one of the boxing icons of the 1980s and 1990s. It’s sad that he is doing this.
"This cannot, under any circumstances, be good for his health even if he fights some old geezer who is going to fall on the floor.
"He started with me, ended with me. Anyone who cares about him should discourage him from doing it."
Hearn, meanwhile, warned Benn against facing Bika who was a world champion as recently as 2014.
He said: "I have too much respect for Nigel Benn to criticise him.
"He must have his reasons for doing it, I don't believe it is just money.
"If it is Sakio Bika, I don't like that fight. He is still a right handful, he is strong, he can punch. He is horrible with his head, he is dirty.
"If he was going to do it I would rather he go to the Board, but I guess the Board woudn't licence it.
"He was always going to fight Eubank, that was always going to be the big comeback fight.
"I don't understand the Sakio Bika fight. If it was Benn and Eubank, you would think that was big, but Benn against Sakio Bika in Birmingham?"
