'A nightmare': COVID-19 derails fight plans for Abe Archibald on Capital Fight Show

"If there's a chance to fight, I'll fight. I'll take any opportunity I can get," the NSW welterweight boxing champion said.

But Archibald's hopes of stepping inside the ring again this year are seemingly getting smaller amid concern lockdowns in the ACT and NSW could be extended.

Archibald and a host of other Canberra-based boxers are stuck in limbo with COVID-19 induced lockdowns and border restrictions putting combat sports events on the backburner.

A Capital Fight Show event is pencilled in for the Hellenic Club of Canberra on November 19 but there is a concern restrictions may see the fight night postponed until the new year.

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Endouro Fight Series promoters Michael Douros and Ben Edwards have already had to delay their inaugural mixed martial arts event twice. An initial date of September 4 was changed to November 27, which has now been altered again to February 5.

Archibald has fought once in almost 19 months and now faces an uncertain future. Officials are bracing for heavy restrictions to be in place once the ACT is out of lockdown, while uncertainty over gyms and interstate travel further complicate the matter.

"It's been a nightmare," Archibald said.

"I won my first title as a professional in February 2020, and then COVID hit after that. I'd been locked out of the gym for a lot of time.

"When the opportunity arose to fight again, I was straight back into a full fight camp. I think this probably affected me too because my body wasn't conditioned to it and I picked up an injury.

"Knowing there's not too many opportunities to fight, I trained through the injury and probably made it severely worse. You've got to take opportunities when they are there in the current state of things, so I fought in April this year. It was a scrappy hit out with a bit of ring rust.

"I decided to get a scan on my injury and found out I had two ruptured tendons in my shoulder. I got it operated on and then I've just been doing everything I can do throughout this lockdown to rehab it and get my body into condition just in case a fight does come.

"It's been crazy. It's been incredibly hard to stay motivated and keep the hunger, especially not knowing what's around the corner.

"The most important lesson I've learnt is if you don't have a gym, you've got to try to stay in some kind of shape, because going back into fight camp, things can break."

Which is why you'll find Archibald doing banded work every morning to rehabilitate his shoulder before settling in to work from home for a day.

Come nightfall he is shadow boxing and running for as long as he is permitted outside, with his coach Quinten Brown checking in from afar.

"Quinten has been checking in but he's got a wife and four kids and his livelihood has been put on hold. He's under immense stress as it is now, so that's another thing," Archibald said.

"We are professional boxers and it is our livelihood but everyone else's livelihood has had to shut down. It's hard to cry victim when everyone is in the same boat, but at the same time, it's horrible."

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