Kell Brook insists he's far from finished as he targets another world title

Agony: Kell Brook struggles after damaging his left eye in his defeat against America’s Errol Spence Jr
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John Dillon2 March 2018

Kell Brook suffered two broken eye sockets in back‑to-back defeats but insists he still has plenty to give as he returns to the ring in Sheffield on Saturday night.

The former IBF welterweight champion fractured his right orbital socket when stopped by Gennady Golovkin in September 2016 and damaged his left eye when stopped again by Errol Spence Jr in May last year.

The 31-year-old was attempting the impossible in stepping up to middleweight against the powerful-punching Golovkin and then saw his three-year reign as world champion ended by Spence Jr when dropping back down to welterweight.

Now Brook begins a new phase of his career at light-middleweight when he takes on tough Belarussian Sergey Rabchenko at the Sheffield Arena. And he is hoping it will lead to him being crowned a two-weight world champion as well as setting up an all-British grudge match against Amir Khan.

Brook said: “People are right to question what I’ve got left and how I am going to be after the injuries and the defeats. We’re going to find out what effect those losses have had on me. I’m not used to losing but I’ve had two in a row now.

“The eyes have healed very well. The injuries have held up in sparring and I wouldn’t be boxing if I wasn’t given the all-clear by the doctors. I wouldn’t put my family or myself through that.

“Now I want to be a two-weight world champion. I’ve never been satisfied winning one world title. Even when I was a teenager, I always wanted to move up the weights and win belts as I grow. But for the first one, I jumped up to middleweight from welterweight against the most feared man in world boxing — GGG. So you can’t really see that as a loss as it wasn’t my natural weight and it was a risk.

“Losing to Spence Jr was different as it was at welterweight and the other eye got smashed in and I lost my world title. That hurt me badly. It took me a long time to get over it. But I know I’ve got a lot left in me. I’ll be better at the bigger weight which will bring the best out of me.”

Brook produced one of the most impressive victories by a British fighter overseas when in 2014 he won the welterweight title against much-fancied American Shawn Porter in California.

His return against Rabchenko is at the Sheffield Arena — little more than 20 miles from the Doncaster Dome where Scott Westgarth was injured in his fight against Dec Spelman last Saturday and then tragically died in hospital on Monday. Brook has dedicated tomorrow’s bout to the memory of Westgarth — who was based in Sheffield — and said the city’s boxing community had suffered “a massive loss”.

Rabchenko, the former European champion, is rated No7 by the WBC and should give Brook a meaningful test at his new weight.

Promoter Eddie Hearn said: “Kell is incredibly tough and courageous to want to come back, to prove people wrong and be a world champion again. People should respect that.”

Brook will move into position for a shot at unbeaten WBC light-middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, of the US, if he wins tomorrow and insists he wants a proper test.

“I didn’t want an easy fight back,” Brook added. “Rabchenko is a dangerous guy. I’ve sparred with him and he can really bang.”

If Brook is successful, the clamour will also begin for a clash with Khan, who has his own comeback at welterweight against Phil Lo Greco on April 21 in Liverpool.

Sky Sports, from 7.30pm

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