Sykes upbeat following horrific finger surgery

Sykes initially broke a bone in the middle finger of his right hand during his British title win over Jon Kays in May.

A hand specialist in Wigan pinned the broken bone but the injury ruled Sykes out of a money-spinning fight with super featherweight rival Liam Walsh.

When pins were taken out, the finger became infected and Sykes underwent two operations to remove the bone.

The 30-year-old said: “The pain was excruciating and when I went back to hospital, they rushed me straight to Pinderfields.

“The surgeon kept ringing me to see how far away I was and it was then I started to think that it could be serious.

“I’ve had an operation to remove the bone and another to make sure they have got all the infection out and I’m having a third operation next Tuesday when the remainder of the finger tip will be removed.

“I’m confident that I will be able to return to boxing and we are eying a return in December, with the Walsh fight still a possibility.”

Surgery came just days after Sykes had received a car courtesy of Batley sponsors NextCar and although he went from the crest of a wave to an injury low, the Dewsbury star is now aiming to put a horrendous few weeks behind him and resume training.

He added: “I feel that I’m cursed as I’d just become British champion and was looking at a big money fight against Walsh.

“I now just want to get back training. This is the longest I have been out of the gym in my career and it has been horrible.

“To be honest I was more worried about shaking people’s hands than my boxing and at first I didn’t want people to know but I’m getting used to it and I guess people will have to rename me Five Star with four fingers,” he joked.

Sykes’s Central Boxing base, in Batley, received a huge boost when they were granted affiliation to the Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) and some of the top amateurs in the area will now fight out the New Ings Mill Gym, Field Lane.