Kell Brook will have to undergo lengthy medical examinations if he’s to shake off his latest eye injury and return to boxing.
The 31-year-old Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) has been stopped in his last two bouts, in which he sustained mirror-image injuries; a broken right eye socket against middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and a broken left eye socket in losing his IBF world welterweight crown to Errol Spence Jr last month.
When halted inside the distance, all fighters are automatically suspended pending medical tests but ‘active’ status may prove particularly arduous for Brook to regain.
The general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, Robert Smith, told ESPN: “Any boxer who fails to go the distance is automatically suspended but we know the extent of his injuries so we will have to receive the consultant’s reports on any procedure that have taken place.
“If he wants to come back then we will also have to receive further prognosis and further consultants’ reports on whether or not he’s fit to continue. All those reports will be forwarded to our own consultants and our own medical panel.
“I can’t remember if it [broken orbital bones on both sides] has happened before. I’m not going to say it has never happened but I can’t remember it. I’m not a doctor. We take our advice from experts.
“I hate to speculate but we’re nowhere near that yet. He’s suspended. He needs to go and get himself medically fit if he wants to continue. At that point, we’ll consider but we aren’t considering it at the moment.”
Sheffield’s Brook, who underwent surgery on his right eye in between the two fights, is currently awaiting surgery on the left eye injury he suffered against America’s Spence Jr at Bramall Lane.
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