Azeez was ruled out of this weekend's light-heavyweight showdown against fellow Briton Buatsi because of a back problem.

The fighters were set to put their friendship to one side at the O2 Arena on Saturday night, with the promise of a world title shot awaiting the winner.

• Mikael Lawal vs Isaac Chamberlain tops bill as Boxxer Fight Night goes ahead
• Joshua Buatsi vs Dan Azeez postponed but packed fight night set to go ahead
• Stream the best boxing and more with NOW

But Azeez suffered an injury in his final training session and has had to pull out of his headliner with just four days to go after being advised against competing by doctors.

"I'm obviously not in the best of spirits but it is what it is. The fight is off and we're looking to get a new scheduled date in the diary," the 34-year-old told Sky Sports.

"I was having my last real hard session and after the session I could feel a pain in my lower back, and it got worse and worse from there.

"I thought I would be able to take some painkillers but the restriction, I couldn't move the way I needed to move, both standing up and sitting down. I was not clear to box after that.

"I got some rehab to do and it looks positive. I thought it would be much longer than expected so I'm quite pleased about that.

"Everyone knows you always get niggles and I've been in fights where you get injuries. I thought it was just another niggle and I had a few days until the fight, but it just got worse and worse to the point where I couldn't move and that's when it was concerning for me.

"The fight was so close and that's when the injury occurred, but I still had hope."

Azeez now hopes to recover in time to fight Buatsi before Christmas.

He said: "I know emotions are high I can only imagine how he feels. Hopefully, he understands and hopefully we can get this on.

"I'd really like it to happen before the end of the year. That's what it's looking like. Once we get the scans and results back, hopefully we can actually put a date to it."

• Natasha Jonas becomes first Black female boxing manager
• Janibek Alimkhanuly unifies world middleweight titles

Azeez also said he is enraged by allegations he feigned injury ahead of the fight, adding: "That's one of the things that's been most upsetting. I'm hearing the narrative of three weeks out. The show was going to be off but that's really hurtful. For someone of my integrity, the type of fighter I am, I would never, ever stage an injury.

"People have worked hard to buy a ticket to come and people have travelled far. I just wouldn't do that. It's nothing to do with Boxxer or Buatsi, got the injury just the other day.

"It was hurtful, especially coming from people in the industry. You'll have your people on social media and your keyboard warriors, but when you have people in the industry who know the game and the industry talking about conspiracies, that's really, really poor. I was enraged.

"You have other promoters who maybe try to make the show not as successful as it was going to be. It's competition, dirty tricks. People who know me know I wouldn't do that. I'm a man of integrity and the sport means a lot to me."

Watch Joe Laws take on Michael Hennessy Jr at York Hall this Saturday, live on Sky Sports. Stream the best boxing and more with NOW