Kell Brook next fight date, venue and opponent unveiled

FORMER IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook will have his comeback fight on March 3 at the Sheffield Arena, moving up to light-middle to take on Sergey Rabchenko.

Brook has had his last two fights on pay-per-view, when he sustained heavy defeats to Gennady Golovkin up at middleweight and lost his welterweight world title to Errol Spence. This comeback bout will be broadcast on regular Sky Sports.

Rabchenko is a heavy-handed super-welterweight with a 29-2 (22) record.

“He has had some decent fights in America and I think they fancy it. And I think with Kell, the Errol Spence fight really hurt him. Not physically but emotionally and mentally. To lose his belt at Bramall Lane. I wouldn’t say he spiralled into depression. He was very, very down. I wasn’t sure whether he’d fight again. He’s taken this while to realise … Kell Brook wants to win a world title back. He’s not taking this fight for money. He’s made his money. The buzz for him now is getting back to the top and that’s okay when you’ve got that desire,” promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News.

“That’s very tough, Gennady Golovkin, Errol Spence, Rabchenko.”

There’s likely to be an Inter-continental title on the line but Brook want to work his way back to a world title, with the WBO champion, Sadam Ali in his sights. Ali beat Miguel Cotto in a shock upset earlier this month but Hearn noted, “He’s still a good fighter, people think that he’s not a good fighter.”

But possibly Brook could fight Sam Eggington next. Their promoter mused, “Sam’s going to fight at 154lbs and then we’ll see…”

For an exclusive interview with Kell Brook don’t miss the current issue of Boxing New magazine