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SYDNEY - Anthony Mundine is out of hospital and has vowed to return to the boxing ring as he continues to fight a serious eye infection.
The WBA super middleweight world champion has spent the past 10 days in hospital after picking up the infection cleaning a contact lens with his mouth and putting it back in his eye during a recent trip to New Zealand.
His doctor still believes Mundine will lose some vision in his left eye, which would put his professional boxing career in major doubt, but the 32-year-old is determined to continue to fight.
"I've fought adversity all my life. I've fought injustice, I've fought the best fighters in the world, but this is my hardest fight," Mundine told the Nine Network.
"The vision is still blurry. I can see things but it's blurry.
"(But) I ain't done yet. Believe in me and pray for me and I will be back, God willing."
Mundine regained the WBA world title after knocking out compatriot Sam Soliman in Sydney in March and defended it against Argentine Pablo Daniel Zamora Nievas on the Gold Coast two months ago.
It was believed Mundine was in line to fight the winner of this year's unification bout between unbeaten super middleweights Mikkel Kessler and Joe Calzaghe, to be held in November.
But Dr John Males said it will be some time before the full extent of the damage to Mundine's eye is known.
He has been taking antibiotics to fight the infection.
"I still think it's likely he'll lose a degree of vision in the eye," Dr Males said.
"But it's very hard to say and we won't really know for weeks or possibly even months."
Mundine, who struggled while in hospital with his inability to train and remain active, wants to resume training as soon as possible.
"I might hit the bag tonight, just lightly and see how I feel," he said.
- AAP
