Brook left ‘devastated’ by second fractured eye socket
Kell Brook was left “devastated” after his Sheffield homecoming at Bramall Lane was spoiled by a brilliant performance from American Errol Spence Jr to claim the IBF welterweight title, leaving the Briton with a second fractured eye socket in the space of nine months.
The 31-year-old Brook was forced to pull himself out of the fight after taking a deliberate knee when he couldn’t see out of his left eye, having seen a strong advantage over the 27-year-old Spence Jr quickly eradicate during the second half of the bout inside the home of Sheffield United Football Club.
The bout was Brook’s first since he suffered a fifth round stoppage against Gennady Golovkin last
September when his trainer, Dominic Ingle, threw in the towel after Brook had suffered a broken right eye socket due to a punch from the hard-hitting Kazakh.
The very same injury looked to happen when Spence Jr landed a punch on Brook in the seventh round, but astonishingly it was this time to the left eye socket, with Brook’s face immediately beginning to swell until his eye started to close up.
"It was a very tough fight and he is one of the best I've been (in the ring) with, if not the best,” Brook said after the fight that saw him suffer a first ever defeat at 147 pounds. “I got caught in the seventh in the eye and it felt the same as against Golovkin.
"I couldn't see out of the eye, so I had to stop. I thought it was very competitive. He won a few rounds, I won a few rounds, I felt I was in the fight. I'm gutted, devastated that in front of my own fans I've lost my belt."
Brook’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirmed that the injury was believed to be the same as the one suffered fewer than nine months ago, though the Sheffield native had gone to hospital for an X-ray to have a full diagnosis of the injury and decide whether he needs to undergo surgery again to correct the fracture.
"He's gone to hospital, I think it's the same injury as the Golovkin fight but the other eye, which is unbelievable, but it was caused by Errol,” said Hearn.
"No excuses about injuries or weight, he was beaten by the better man."
Brook confirmed on Sunday morning that he had fractured his left eye socket, and that surgery was now a possibility that could keep him out of the ring until next year.