Having come out of retirement after a near two-year layoff, Lucas lost a razor-thin split decision to hard-punching Rocky Jerkic (16-1) in his pay-per-view debut in February.

He backed it up with a 12-round war with future hall-of-famer Sam Soliman, ultimately losing by decision in what was the former IBF middleweight champion's farewell bout in Melbourne last weekend.

Having taken the fight on just over two weeks notice, Lucas made a nine-kilo weight-cut and overcame a nasty cut early in the fight before going the distance.

While consecutive losses can sometimes be the death knell for a career, the South Coast product's stocks have only risen within the pro game.

Coach Nudge Mieli says his charge won't return to the ring until at least August, but said he's taken more out of the last two bouts than his previous nine fights combined.

"Doing 12 rounds like that with someone who's that experienced I think it was worth at least three fights," Mieli said.

"Sam Soliman has fought 33 12-round fights, he's been in world title fights, fought Jermaine Taylor, Anthony Mundine, beat Felix Sturm in Germany twice.

"It was his last fight and he turned up. Plenty of people down there said it was the best Sam had boxed in five years. He was a much better version of Sam Soliman than I was expecting but that was good because it was great experience.

"After the fight he came in and thanked us because no one would take this fight on this notice. We had 19 days notice, Mark had to lose 9.2 kilos. He sparred three times and the longest he sparred was seven rounds.

"It was a limited preparation so I was really happy with the performance."

Lucas was left sporting stitches in the cut that he carried through nine rounds of the fight which proved another lesson in the toughest of schools.

"From round six he said 'Nudge I can see the bone'," Mieli said.

"I said mate you have to knock him out because they're going stop it. from round seven he said 'coach I can't see'. I said I'd stop it and he said 'no way'.

"You learn a lot about his resilience in a situation where you've got nine rounds to go and you're split wide open.

"It was a tough fight but, like he said to me afterwards 'at least when my career's over I'll know I've had a real career not a pretend career'.

The wounded eye will take time to heal but Mieli said his charge is looking to mount another major title run.