Kell Brook, the former IBF welterweight champion, has announced his retirement from the ring 11 weeks after his win over long-time rival Amir Khan, admitting ‘it’s not there any more."

There had been strong rumors that Brook would step up in weight to face Chris Eubank Jr and Eddie Hearn said that he had asked for £5 million to face Conor Benn, while a rematch with Khan had always seemed unlikely after a one-sided first fight. A fight with Josh Taylor had also been mooted.

But Brook revealed his decision to quit in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph. 

“I’ve had a long chat with my family and my parents, and it’s over for me,” Brook said. “I’ll never box again.

“It’s a little emotional to be actually saying this out loud. My mam [Julie] is relieved. I think everyone around me is pleased. Truth is, boxing is a very, very tough, dangerous sport, one in which you can be legally killed in the ring, and I’ve finished now with all my faculties intact.”

Brook was a product of the famed Winobank gym in Sheffield set up by Brendan Ingle, while he was trained by Brendan’s son, Dominic, for much of his career. 

He won the IBF title by beating Shawn Porter in Carson, California, in August 2014 and retained it three times before losing it to Errol Spence three years later.  

He was lucky to be able to defend it at all after suffering serious injuries on his leg when he was attacked with a machete a month after he won the title. He also twice suffered broken orbital bones, once when stepping up to middleweight to face Gennady Golovkin and then when losing to Spence.

The rivalry with Khan dominated his career, though, and he was unable to tempt Khan into a match when they were both at their peak. Instead, they met in February this year, Brook dominating the fight and stopping Khan in the sixth round.  

“If I hadn't boxed, I would have ended up in real trouble, my life might have gone off the rails, given where I was from,” Brook said. “I’ll always be grateful to Brendan Ingle and his sons Dominic and John for helping me to find the discipline and the structure in my life.

“I needed the Khan fight, I needed to settle the grudge, the feud. There is no dark feeling left in me now, I think when you have been in the ring with someone it passes, it leaves you.

“Me and Amir said some words which were hateful in the build-up, but that’s what happens in boxing. But I respect him after the fight. He showed real heart in there.” 

Brook also lost to Terence Crawford in his last world title shot in 2020.

“Highs and lows, a rollercoaster, it’s been a long journey and all I’ve known,” he said. “I’ve been a world champion, and that night against Shawn Porter in California will live with me forever. As will my last fight with Amir. It’s not going to get better than that walk to the ring."

“It was my dream since I started boxing at the age of nine to be a world champion. It was a special night. I’ve been in the ring with Golovkin, Spence, Crawford, and I finally got my fight with Amir Khan. After that, I don't think I needed to go on anymore.” 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.