ORIGINALLY, the fight between Scott Quigg and Jono Carroll was scheduled to be on the undercard of Anthony Joshua's rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in December.

And after an arm injury put a halt to them coming to blows in Saudi Arabia, Quigg insists he jumped at the chance to rearrange the fight for Manchester Arena on March 7.

The Bury man hasn’t stepped into the ring since beating Mario Briones in Boston in October 2018 but Quigg insists his time off has not been wasted.

"With the year I had last year and then not being able to fight in Saudi Arabia Eddie said we could make the fight for March and I jumped at that," said Quigg.

“I couldn’t get back into America at this time, so I had to make the decision to link back up with Joe Gallagher and get back here again.

“Eddie (Hearn, promoter) brought it to the table, potentially we were going to get it as an eliminator when it was first announced when we were supposed to fight for the IBF title."

Quigg, a former WBA Super Bantamweight world champion, was initially restricted as to what he could do in the gym with his arm injury.

The 31-year-old was able though to keep himself ticking over before being able to dive into his fight camp with Gallagher in Bolton.

“I’d been in the gym working on certain things. Obviously, I wasn't able to use my arm,” added Quigg.

“I had to have about a month off due to the injury, but I kept in shape, kept training, kept working on little things.

“I managed to keep my brain stimulated so it's not been time wasted.”

A victory for either man is likely to catapult them firmly back into world title contention at super-featherweight.

Defeat however, could signal the end of either man's chances of major honours.

Carroll lost on a unanimous decision when fighting Tevin Farmer for the IBF title a year ago in Philadelphia.

Since that fight, the title has changed hands as Farmer was beaten by JoJo Diaz in Miami at the end of January.