By Keith Idec

As much as Kell Brook wanted to keep fighting Saturday night, he remembered what his surgeon told him following his last fight.

Dr. Mohammed Ali, who repaired Brook’s broken right orbital bone following his fifth-round technical knockout loss to Gennady Golovkin, told Brook he could’ve gone blind in his right eye had he continued in that fight. Once Brook sensed he had suffered a similar injury against Errol Spence Jr., this time around his left eye, he knew he had to quit in their IBF welterweight title fight in Sheffield, England.

Brook informed referee Howard Foster after taking a knee in the 11th round that the blurry vision in his left eye was too much for him to endure against Spence and their fight was stopped. The former champion confirmed Sunday that he sustained a fractured left orbital bone around his left eye in his loss to Spence at Bramall Lane, a soccer stadium in Brook’s hometown.

“In the later rounds, 10 and 11, especially the 11th round, [the blurry vision] stuck there,” Brook told Sky Sports News during an interview that aired Sunday morning. “And that’s why I went down on one knee. And I remember the surgeon saying to me after the Golovkin fight, ‘If you would have gone another round or so, you could be blind.’ So I’ve got that going through my mind as well.

“I’m in my own city. I’m in Sheffield. I wear my heart on my sleeve. There were many things going through my mind, but I remember thinking I live to fight another day.”

 Dominic Ingle, Brook’s trainer, stepped in to stop the Golovkin bout September 10 in London because he was worried Brook would suffer permanent damage to his right eye.

Ali inserted a titanium plate into the right side of Brook’s face following that defeat. Brook said Sunday that he might need similar surgery to repair his most recent injury.

Meanwhile, Brook will be left to lament what could’ve been.

“When I got caught in the 11th, [my vision] wouldn’t come back into line,” Brook said. “It actually stayed there and it was coming on strong. And I knew that I couldn’t see and I knew he is a very sharp shooter, a very good fighter, Errol Spence Jr. And I knew that it could be fatal with some of the shots he was chucking.

“If the eye hadn’t have gone, I think the fight would have mapped out a little bit differently. But it is what it is, and I didn’t get the win.”

Brook (35-2, 26 KOs) had fared well against the unbeaten Spence (22-0, 19 KOs), a highly touted American southpaw, during the first six rounds of their scheduled 12-rounder. He was behind, however, on all three scorecards when Brook decided he couldn’t continue (97-92, 96-93, 95-94).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.