Kell Brook vows to retire if he loses to Mark DeLuca in comeback fight

The Sheffield fighter is entering the final stage of his career and cannot afford to lose in his pursuit of winning a world title again

Kell Brook trains ahead of his fight with Mark DeLuca (Getty)

Kell Brook insists he will retire from boxing if he loses to Mark DeLuca in his comeback fight on 8 February.

The Sheffield fighter has been out of the ring for a 14 months since he beat Michael Zerafa.

But with ambition to return to the top of the sport and challenge for a world title once again, Brook takes on the American next month and admits he simply cannot afford to lose.

“This last chapter of my career, I’m giving it my all,” Brook told 5 Live Boxing. ”If I get beaten I can walk away with my head high, knowing I have given everything.”

“If I get beaten by DeLuca, I will announce my retirement in that ring. If I can’t beat him, what am I doing?”

Brook is back in a good place, but admitted to enduring mental health struggles in the aftermath of his defeat to Errol Spence Jr.

“I think it’s age. And I think it’s realising the window of opportunity is very small now. I have realised I have been cheating myself and it is me who pays for it. So I am going to give myself the best opportunity to give my all,” Brook added.

“It’s me who walks in my shoes. I know that I have never been 100% but now I am 100%. But I am not a young buck any more and I have to look after myself. I have to go to bed at night, not cut corners, do it by the book.

“Obviously I was young and thinking I could do it all as a world champion but I am sitting here now and the penny has dropped. I have seen the light now.”