Kell Brook retired in 2022 after a career-defining victory over Amir Khan following the pair’s long and frustrating rivalry.
The former world champion from Sheffield, though, has dropped hints ever since that he could be tempted to return to the ring for the right price and opponent.
It seems now that he may have found both – at least according to Ben Shalom and his latest interview with Sky Sports. The promoter is putting on his first box office event of the year in Chris Eubank Jr and Liam Smith, and he’s been told that Brook – who will be in attendance in Manchester – wants the winner.
“Kell will be there on Saturday. He’s desperate for the winner of that fight. He wanted the Eubank fight after the Khan fight. He feels he wants the winner of this fight whether that’s Liam Smith or whether that’s Eubank Jr. There is a rematch clause, so if Liam does win Eubank will have the option with that one. But there’ll be massive fights for whoever the winner is.”
“Both of them want to fight again in the summer. This a springboard to massive fights in 2023. But this is the one they’re both focused on.”
‘Special K’ hung up the gloves with 40 wins and three defeats, with those losses coming to the very best in the business in Errol Spence Jr, Terence Crawford and Gennadiy Golovkin. A return – especially on home soil – would likely be celebrated by UK fans.
Another domestic clash with Brook is one option for the winner – the other being moving towards a world title – but what of the loser?
Shalom admitted that it will be a very hard defeat to take at this stage in both of their careers.
“Were Chris to lose this, it really will be difficult to come back from and Liam the same.”
“Eubank Jr is a big star. Especially outside the heavyweight division there’s not many like him. There was always the question mark, especially since he fought George Groves, can he win a world title? Was he actually world level?”
Whilst Eubank goes into the fight a bookies’ favourite, many pundits and fans are leaning towards Smith. The intriguing main event is propped up by an action-packed undercard.