Another fight, another fractured eye socket for Kell Brook and the question now is where he goes next. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, made it clear that there will be no more fights at welterweight following the 31-year-old’s defeat to Errol Spence Jr at Bramall Lane on Saturday, a contest that not only left Brook with restricted vision but also the loss of his IBF title, and whether he returns to the ring at all is open to debate.

What is for sure is Brook is unlikely to fight again this year due to the need to undergo an operation in order to repair his left eye socket, which was first damaged by Spence Jr in the seventh round and only worsened from there, leading to the champion dropping to his knee in the 11th and being waved off by referee Howard Foster shortly after.

It was later confirmed that Brook’s injury is identical to the one he sustained against Gennady Golovkin nine months ago. Then it was his right eye which was affected, resulting in a fifth-round stoppage and a metal plate being inserted into Brook’s face, and with a surgeon’s knife again looming it will surely have crossed the Sheffield fighter’s mind that after 38 fights across a 13-year professional career (36-2), now may be the time to call it a day.

“It’s a big blow to the career,” said Hearn before confirming his man is “done” at welterweight. That did not come as a surprise given the ordeal Brook has regularly undergone to boil down to the 147lb limit and, post-surgery, he may well decide to move up to light-middleweight or even to middleweight, the level at which he met Golovkin last September.

But there is only so much damage one person can take and it was telling that Brook admitted his decision to drop down on one knee on Saturday was based in part on memories of the punishment he took against Golovkin. “I remember the surgeon telling me if I’d have gone a round or so extra [against Golovkin] I could have gone blind. I had that in my mind,” he said.

When a fighter prioritises physical wellbeing over glory the end can not be far away, and if that is indeed the case for Brook he can look back proudly at a career that saw him become a world champion at the age of 28, beating the American Shawn Porter on American soil in August 2014. But there may also be regrets, specifically never securing a fight against Amir Khan – who was at ringside on Saturday – and, having moved up to middleweight to face Golovkin – a contest that ended in brutal defeat but showed Brook could compete at 160lb – deciding to drop back down two divisions to face Spence Jr. After the pain of his preparation came the pain of losing in front of a hometown crowd at a venue he fell in love with as a young Sheffield United fan.

All of which should not take away from Spence Jr’s display. The 27-year-old Texan arrived on these shores with an undefeated record after 21 fights and Sugar Ray Leonard describing him as “the real deal”. He more than lived up to the hype, regularly testing Brook with his slick southpaw skills and a vicious array of shots, none more so than the one which pounded Brook’s eye and led to him dropping to the canvas twice.

Spence Jr also showed his ruthless side by savagely jabbing at Brook’s eye once he realised it was heavily swollen. The tactic worked and with the American becoming the latest world champion at welterweight it would come as no surprise to see him go on and clean up in the division.

Someone else who became a world champion on Saturday was George Groves after he claimed the vacant WBA super-middleweight title via a sixth-round stoppage of the Russian Fedor Chudinov.

It was Groves’s fourth world title attempt following defeats to Carl Froch, twice, and Badou Jack and the 29-year-old has made clear his desire to next face his long-time rival and IBF champion, James DeGale.

“He’s not an easy person to deal with, but I’d like that fight. It’s a fight everyone would enjoy,” said Groves, who beat DeGale when they met six years ago. “For too long now I’ve been walking around clueless as to why I wasn’t a world champion. I was bitter. But now I can I say I’m the best in the world and I’ve got the belt to prove it. A weight has been lifted.”