Kell Brook to have surgery on eye socket after Gennady Golovkin defeat

Kell Brook will have surgery on the broken eye socket he sustained in Saturday’s defeat by Gennady Golovkin.

Brook, 30, who moved up two weight divisions to face the unbeaten middleweight champion, will have an operation in Sheffield on Monday, promoter Eddie Hearn said.

He suffered the injury in the second round in London and had blurred vision before being stopped in round five.

It was Brook’s first defeat in his 37th professional fight.

Eddie Hearn paid tribute to Brook for accepting the challenge against Kazakhstan’s Golovkin, who has 33 knockouts from 36 fights, including 23 in a row.

“Fans always want to fighters step up and fight the best and he did that,” he said.

“Kell stepped up from welterweight to middleweight. He wanted the big fights and it was a hell of a fight. I think Kell deserves lot of respect.”

Hearn told BBC that Brook’s trainer Dominic Ingle was correct to throw in the towel to signal defeat in the fifth round.

“Kell traded with him and had a real go but it was absolutely the right decision from Dominic Ingle,” the promoter said.

“I know there were a few boos from the crowd but he knows his fighter more than anyone and that kind of injury can get worse and worse in a fight and ultimately end someone’s career.”

Having initially questioned his trainer’s actions, Brook agreed the day after the defeat that Ingle had been correct.

“He’s like a father figure. It was the right decision and I can fight another day,” he said.

“I was getting caught, and getting caught. It could have ended up seriously bad.”

In beating Brook, Golovkin recorded his 17th world middleweight title defence.