GL: What's the latest and greatest Hot Rod? My therapist said I should be able to hit in April, so I'll probably be back in the ring in June or July. It could be faster and little by little it's coming along. I'm doing great really, and they said I should be able to make a fist within the next couple of weeks. GL: Refresh Boxingtalk readers on the injury. The tendon came off the knuckle, so they had to put it back on the knuckle and stitch it up. There was a lot of scar tissue and they said there was a hole in my knuckle. What they did was they tied up the tendon really tight, because it's going to get loose over time. It's all healed up now, but if I make a fist too fast it's going to rip my tendon, so I'm doing exercises to loosen it up.

Radivoje Kalajdzic: "It happened over the last few years and it got worse and worse with each fight until it got to the point that I couldn't take it no more because the pain wasn't going away. Now it's all about the recovery and being ready for my comeback."

RK: "Yeah, sometime around there."

RK: "I knew that I was going to eventually have to fix the problem with surgery, about a year ago it would tighten up and then go away. In the Peterkin fight I was fine, but I hurt my left hand wrist, which is why I was using my right hand a lot. As each day went by, I started feeling pain in different areas of my fist, I went to the doctor and they told me the only way I could fix it was with surgery. I was prepared for the surgery because I was expecting it, but I was upset because we had some really good offer for us to get some good opponents this year."

RK: "I'm hoping we get one tune-up fight and then not even a month later, I'll be ready for a big fight. That's what I want."

RK: "They said yes, but this is a common procedure for boxers, which is why it's called a boxers knuckle. He said all I have to do is wrap my hands good and tight and it'll be fine. I was training and fighting for three years with a messed up hand. I found on YouTube a different way to wrap hands, so I kind of already know what I'm going to do when I wrap my hands, so I can tell whoever is going to be wrapping my hands what to do."

RK: "No, once the injury happened three years ago in sparring I never let it heal properly. I was supposed to splint it down to get the tendon back in place and if I did that I would have never needed surgery. The doctor told me that continuing to hit without letting it heal started to form the hole. When I made a fist the tendon would go off my knuckle and the tendon would be soft. In each fight I had to be off for about a month becuase my hand was so swollen. I had plenty of x-rays and MRI's but I knew the injury was the tendon, so I just kept fighting until I couldn't take it anymore."

RK: "Yeah, I was reading about that with Mayweather's hands. I know that guy does a certain Mexican style of hand wrapping, so I'm definitely going to look to get in touch with him. I'm going to call my promoter and make sure that happens."

RK: "Thank you the interview, I want to tell the fans to stay tuned, because by the middle of this year I'll be back on track and I'll be fighting for a title as soon as possible."