Amanda Westcott

Ex-welterweight world title holder Kell Brook almost walked away from the sport for good last year following a second crushing defeat on UK soil.

Following a fifth round stoppage in London against middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, ‘The Special One’ moved back down in weight and was subsequently relieved of his world title belt against Errol Spence in his hometown of Sheffield.

Suffering broken cheek bones either side of his face in each loss, Brook thought about walking away as his private life threatened to go off the rails.

“You’re always learning and you never stop learning. I felt this was my first real loss, it’s been very hard and I was in a dark place,” Brook explained to betsafe.com

“I’ve always been used to winning and champion, and having that taken away, it hurt me. I’ve over that hurdle, now training and eating well.

“At the end of the day I lost the fight but in years gone by I can look back and say, look what it did for the city. Everyone was excited, a load of people came and it was great for the city.

“I’m just a normal Sheffield born in Shirecliffe guy, and I’ve done well. I’ve gone over to America and won a title and I’ve defended my title well.

“It takes time to recover, I even contemplated retiring, I was that low but there’s so much left of me and there’s certain performances I need to top and certain fighters I need to fight before I close the book on it. I’ve not done that yet, so there’s much more to come from me.”

Brook now heads back to Sheffield and up to super-welterweight in an attempt to give his supporters something to shout about against Sergey Rabchenko and knows nothing but victory will do in his quest to win a world title at 154 pounds.

“I’m looking to become a two-time world champion, I want to beat this guy and be very active this year. I want the biggest names and the biggest fights possible.”

Kell Brook was speaking to Betsafe.com, for all the odds and betting markets on the Brook v Rabchenko rematch, visit here

