• Welterweight

Brook faces long wait for next title opportunity

Kell Brook may have a long wait ahead for another world title chance © PA Photos

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Kell Brook's promoter, Eddie Hearn, admits he and the fighter will need to be "creative" if they are to secure another world title shot in the near future.

Brook was forced to pull out of his scheduled May 18 welterweight meeting with IBF champion Devon Alexander on Monday, after doctors uncovered two injuries to his foot. It is the third time the fight with Alexander has been postponed, with the American now likely to look for another opponent for the May date.

As the mandatory challenger, Brook will still be in line for a world title shot upon his return from injury, however, depending on Alexander's forthcoming activity, by then his path may be obstructed by other fighters.

Hearn, while acknowledging that Brook may have to wait a while for another world title fight, insisted that the decision to postpone the Alexander bout once again was the only one Brook could make.

"All the things that are now out of control in terms of his career, we still had to make the right decision on what the doctors and specialists were saying," Hearn told the BBC.

"He's guaranteed a world title shot, it's just a timing issue now. He may have to wait - in which case we make look at other options and go down other routes.

"That's our job now, to be creative and have a strategy following the disappointing news. It's a huge blow. No-one will feel it more than Kell Brook. Beyond the life-changing opportunity, and the great financial payday he would have got, we've worked so hard to get him into this mandatory position.

"There are no words I can give that will give anyone any positive news - apart from that he is 27 and he will be back."

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