When the former cruiserweight retired from boxing in September 2017, that was supposed to be it. His third retirement would be his last.

But the desire was still there. There was a void no amount of commentary or matchmaking could fill. So when Lovelock realised he could barely tie his shoelaces without puffing after blowing out to 119 kilograms, he went back to Ozan Craddock's Allegiance Boxing gym ready to start from scratch.

"Nobody knew me there," the Canberra-born boxer said.

"I joined his novice class, I went in and did footwork drills, I did your basic left and right hands, learning the jab, I basically started learning the game again and mate, I fell back in love with it. I was like a sponge, just absorbing everything. I retook the sport of boxing."

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Now Lovelock [12-7] returns to the ring against Dane Alchin at Brisbane's Eatons Hill Hotel on Saturday night, ready for one more roll of the dice.

Lovelock dropped 28 kilograms in 12 weeks before making weight. His mental health has lifted tenfold. His comeback is not about a fighter trying to cling on to his past success; it's about being the best version of himself he can be.

Not just for himself, but for his family - even if the prospect of a comeback didn't exactly thrill his wife Kristin.

"Mate, it caused about a one-month no-talking silence. She just started talking to me not long ago," Lovelock mused.

"She's supported the way it makes me feel. Obviously she can see the difference in my everyday life now, I'm happier and I've lost a lot of weight. You can see my mental side is so much better.

"I'm training every single day. Outside of work I'm straight to the gym and don't get home until after 8pm every night so I'm not home a lot. We've got four children and I run my own security business up here so she's got to pick that slack too.

"I've done it since she's known me, and this is our 19th year together now. I think since I retired a few years ago, it was almost to her like 'finally, that's been put to bed'. Flaring it up and being obsessed with it like I am now, it's even more of a thing than it ever was before.

"She still supports it because she knows it's what I want, and she has been so good about it."

Lovelock feels he never reached his potential. The former WBC Asian Boxing Council cruiserweight champion was one to fight anyone; in 2016 he flew to Tokyo to take on heavyweight Kyotaro Fujimoto despite giving up almost 25 kilograms.

This fighting caper, "it's all I know". But this one means a little more than the comeback fights that have gone before it, because Lovelock has Craddock in his corner.

"We've had late drunken nights together when we've stayed up until the sun comes up saying 'one day we'll fight together'. Now we've finally done it, it's like a dream come true," Lovelock said.

"Something we've always spoken about, we're actually doing it now. It's an unreal feeling to get there and do it, and to know we're going to do it together, it's going to be a big thing."

BOXING

Saturday: Adam Lovelock v Dane Alchin at Eatons Hill Hotel, Queensland, from 7pm AEDT. Live stream on Ace Boxing TV on YouTube.

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