The return of former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook is being targeted for the end of the year, says promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport.
Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) was defeated in his last two bouts, and came away from both with serious injury.
Last September, he moved up by two full weight divisions to 160-pounds - to challenge middleweight king Gennady Golovkin. He was stopped in the fifth round and suffered a fractured orbital bone. Brook moved back to the welterweight division in May, to make a mandatory defense of the IBF belt against Errol Spence - and was stopped in the eleventh round and fractured his other orbital bone.
Brook is back in training and looking to return to the sport, likely at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds.
“He’s back training,” Hearn told Boxing News. "I think only now he’s back in his rhythm and now we’re looking at end of November, early December coming back.”
Hearn wants Brook to come back at 154. He won't likely secure the fight that Hearn most desires for his boxer - a showdown with WBO world champion Miguel Cotto, who plans to retire from the sport after taking part in a final career fight in December. But his departure could up open the door for Brook to fight for the vacant belt in 2018.
“I want him to come back at 154lbs,” Hearn explained. “I think we need a good solid fight at light middleweight. He’s not going to come back against [Miguel] Cotto, it’s not going to happen unless we get asked. If we want to do that fight in the States then it’s up to Kell. I never make the decisions on who he fights. I would rather he had a comeback fight at 154. He’s had two losses, I want to see some wins on that record, even if we have two fights in three or four months.”