Kell Brook breathed fresh life into his career as he began in the light-middleweight division with a stunning second-round knockout of Sergey Rabchenko.

Brook’s career had stalled with middleweight and welterweight defeats, but he needed less than five minutes to end the challenge of Rabchenko in front of his home fans at the Sheffield Arena.

Brook had spoken of how the defeat to Errol Spence Jr last May had left him at a low ebb but he refused to take an easy route on his comeback: Rabchenko had lost twice in 31 professional fights and had won all seven of his previous contests in Britain.

But the Belarusian was never able to get going against Brook, who will now have his sights set on challenging for world honours once more, or arranging a bout against his long-term rival Amir Khan.

Backed by a buoyant crowd in his home city, Brook wasted little time settling into his stride behind a crisp jab while his superior footwork allowed him to avoid most of Rabchenko’s lunges.

The 31-year-old, whose eye sockets have both been reinforced by titanium plates after being fractured in recent defeats, stepped up his attack in the second round as he followed up a bruising left uppercut with a straight right that put Rabchenko on the floor.

Rabchenko was unsteady as he rose to his feet and was counted out by the referee, Steve Gray, one minute and 27 seconds into the round, much to the delight of the home crowd.