Kell Brook is expected to return to the ring in February as the former IBF welterweight champion looks to rebuild his career after a blank 2019.
The Yorkshireman has not boxed since December last year when he had a tougher-than-expected time against Michael Zerafa in Sheffield, before claiming a unanimous points decision.
At that time, he had seemed likely to face his old rival, Amir Khan, but when Khan decided to face Terence Crawford instead, Brook was left without an obvious fight. He had been expected to return on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s first fight with Andy Ruiz Jr in New York in June, but when that fell through, the 33-year-old was left denying reports that he was about to retire.
Rumours that he would box in Saudi Arabia on the Joshua-Ruiz rematch undercard came to nothing.
But Eddie Hearn, the promoter, said that Book will be on his first big show of 2020.
“We are looking for Kell Brook to get out in early February,” Hearn said.
Although he still holds a ranking of No 11 with the WBC, having been inactive for more than 12 months, Brook will need to fight in order to regain a ranking with the other organisations to potentially push him towards another world title shot. A fight with Amir Khan would remain possible, although it would be worth nothing like its value was 2-3 years ago.
After losing his world title to Errol Spence in May 2017, Brook boxed twice in 2018, knocking out Sergey Rabchenko in two rounds before he struggled against Zerafa. Any return would likely be at 154lb, where Hearn should have few problems getting him a world-title shot.
