Kell Brook hoping to fight again in 2017

Former welterweight titleholder Kell Brook is coming off of a second surgery for a second broken orbital bone in his second straight defeat, but the 31-year-old hopes to fight again before the year is over.

From Matchroom:

“I spoke to the surgeon and he said that the operation was a big success and simpler than the last one,” said Brook. “It took half the time of the first one and there’s very little swelling and it looks great. The last scan I had revealed that the healing has started really well and the bone already looks strong so I expect to make a full recovery and I want to fight again in 2017.

“I was bitterly disappointed by the loss at Bramall Lane. Losing my belt was gutting but I’m glad I accepted to fight Spence and help be part of an event that Sheffield will remember and be proud of.

“I still feel that I have a massive future in the sport. I will talk to my team in the coming weeks about what we can do next and I am looking to get back into camp this summer.”

It’s expected that Brook (36-2, 25 KO) will return as a junior middleweight. It’s a move he contemplated after moving up to middleweight and losing to Gennady Golovkin last year, but he didn’t want to vacate his IBF 147-pound title, choosing instead to face mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr.

But now that he doesn’t have the belt, and that he may have outgrown 147, a move to 154 would make sense. That said, Brook has said he feels he can still make 147, and there may be bigger money fights for him at that weight, too.

The biggest concern going forward for Brook is going to be the fact that broken orbital bones can really haunt a fighter. His injuries weren’t quite as severe as what Manny Pacquiao did to Antonio Margarito years ago — for one thing, Brook was stopped before the damage could get that bad — but it’s still going to be a clear target for anyone he faces.