Junior Witter will discover next week when he is allowed to fight again.

Witter returns to Oxford to see the bone specialist next Friday to monitor the recovery in his injured left hand.

The European Boxing Union are waiting on the medical report before a date can be set for his title defence against Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik.

Promoter Mick Hennessy last week won the rights to stage the fight and the obvious choice of venue would be Nottingham, the base of his biggest ticket seller Carl Froch.

As a long shot, it could be included on one of the Golden Boy shows in America as part of the three-fight deal Witter has signed with Oscar De La Hoya.

The EBU were happy for Witter's proposed clash with Gianluca Branco to take place in Los Angeles before it fell through.

Instead, Witter beat Lovemore N'Dou in the first Commonwealth defence to be held in America - earning praise from that particular governing body for giving their title such a high-profile stage.

The 30-year-old has received plenty of plaudits for his win over N'Dou. The latest came in a letter from Simon Block, the domestic board of control general secretary.

Witter, who has been training one-handed in the gym, is keen to build on his American success as he waits for the green light from the doctor. But he does not expect an easy encounter in the second defence of the European belt he won by blasting out Salvatore Battaglia ten months ago.

Kotelnik has lost only one of his 25 professional fights - on a split decision to Frenchman Souleymane Mbaye in a WBA title eliminator.

But his most impressive scalp was as an amateur when he beat Olympic gold medallist Mario Kindelan, the man widely regarded as the best lightweight on the planet.

The Cuban sensation, who beat Amir Khan in the final in Athens last summer, has only lost a handful of his 200 bouts. So Kotelnik, who turned pro at the time the Klitschko brothers came to prominence, will not be taken lightly.

Witter's manager John Ingle said: "The kid came under the radar before so we haven't seen much of him. But to beat Kindelan as an amateur shows he is a very good fighter.

"We expect him to be a typical Eastern European boxer, very straight up in his style like Oktay Urkal. He may not have a big punch but he is very solid."