Kell Brook Targets Comeback Title Defence in February After Tenerife Stabbing

Kell Brook believes he will be ready to return to the ring and defend his world title early next year after being stabbed while on holiday in September.

Brook's career was thrown in jeopardy after the unprovoked attack in Tenerife that required emergency surgery after he was stabbed in the left thigh.

The incident took place just weeks after his IBF world welterweight title victory over Shawn Porter in California and immediately derailed talk of a homecoming title defence in Sheffield on 6 December.

But amid talk of an all-British showdown with Amir Khan in the summer, 28-year-old Brook claims he has already begun work back in the gym and has a February return date in mind.

"I have just started back in the gym and I am doing physio every other day. We are getting there now," Brook told ESPN's Steve Bunce in his Boxing Podcast.

"The doctors have told me that once I get back from rehab I'll be brand new – as good as ever.

"I am thinking we will be ready to go for late February next year where we jump back in the ring and defend my world title."

In beating Porter last August, Brook became the first Brit to win a world title in the United States in 28 years and catapulted the Sheffield fighter into contention for fights with some of the welterweight's biggest names –with Floyd Mayweather Jr immediately mentioned in the aftermath of his victory.

But just 18 days later, Brook found himself left fearing for his life after the attack.

"As soon as I woke up in hospital and for a few days after I didn't know what would happen," he continued. "So you can imagine how I felt.

"I'd just won a world title and not knowing what's going on. It was horrible. I was away after winning the world title on a nice chilled out holiday with my girlfriend and my daughter – and next thing I'm getting stabbed.

"It was unbelievable. Two days after I was meant to get back and into training for the December 6 fight – and I was laying there with my leg cut in half.

"The fact is, though, I'm the world champion. And if we do go back to that day – a lot of people will had written me off."