Brook: After Beating Spence, I Want Thurman Unification Next!

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) admits that his days are numbered in the welterweight division and because of that he plans to target a unification with WBC, WBA champion Keith Thurman at the end of the year.

Thurman revealed last week that he recently underwent elbow surgery which is going to keep him out of the ring until the end of the year.

Brook returns to the ring this Saturday night at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, where the hometown fighter will make a mandatory defense against unbeaten Errol Spence (21-0, 18 KOs).

In his last fight, which took place last September at the O2 Arena in London, Brook moved up by two weight division to challenge IBF, WBC, WBA, IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. Brook was stopped in the fifth round.

Brook had to work very hard to get back down to the welterweight limit. His team advised him to vacate and move his career to junior middleweight, but Brook refused - and was motivated to make a mandatory defense against Spence.

But he realizes that by 2018 he'll likely be fighting at 154-pounds.

"My plans after beating Errol Spence would be to have the fight with Keith Thurman and unify the division," Brook exclusively told Sky Sports.

"While I'm lean and down to weight I would like to get into another training camp quite quickly to fight Thurman at the back end of the year, that would be perfect for me. And once I have cleaned up the welterweight division then move up. That would be a perfect scenario for me."

Promoter Lou DiBella, who works with Thurman and his adviser Al Haymon, would be open to the idea of making that fight at year's end.

"Keith is the kind of guy who will fight the biggest and best fight that is put in front of him. He's not a guy that walks away from anything. Let Kell and Errol fight first, and then see what happens," DiBella said.