Brook believes he has more left

Kell not thinking about retirement

Former welterweight world champion Kell Brook must be the unluckiest man in boxing. The 31-year-old from Sheffield has lost each of his last two fights, both by stoppage – suffering a broken eye socket in each contest.

Special K, unbeaten champion of the world at the time, made an ill-advised move up to middleweight – that’s two divisions from his usual category – to fight the all-conquering star of the show, Gennady Golovkin. In a gamble that could only have been for the pay-day, the Englishman’s carefully thought out hit-and-move tactics came to nothing.

Golovkin fight went as expected

If you didn’t see the fight with Golovkin, the best way to describe it is a middleweight against a welterweight, with the night going exactly how critics said it would. The beaten man was retired by his corner in the fifth round, when it became obvious all was not right. It was later announced Brook had suffered a broken eye socket. GGG boasts an 89 per cent KO average for good reason.

Moving back down to welter, Kell gave his injuries, and pride, plenty of time to heal, before returning to the ring to face unbeaten American Errol Spence Jr on an open-air show at Bramall Lane, defending the IBF welterweight strap. The weight of public opinion was, once more, dead against him, as were the pre-fight betting odds, which turned out to be a shrewd judgement call.

What next for Brook?

Kell Brook was beaten into submission by a real classy opponent in Spence, dropped in the 10^th and 11th rounds. He took a knee and didn’t come out fighting after that. Retired, beaten and – what’s worse – there were reports of more eye damage, this time on the other side. So, what now for the man who once ruled at 147lbs?