Kell Brook: Sheffield boxer announces retirement after Amir Khan victory

The city-born former world welterweight champion revealed this morning that he was stepping away from the ring at the age of 36.

It comes three months after defeating bitter rival Khan in an eagerly anticipated clash.

Brook, who was crowned welterweight world champion in 2014, bows out with a record of 40 wins and three defeats.

His defeats came at the highest level against middleweight Gennady Golovkin, a mandatory title defence against Errol Spence, and against pound-for-pound great Terence Crawford.

Brook finally secured a clash with Khan in February after years of chasing his domestic foe.

Brook dominated from the first bell before stopping his rival in the sixth round. Khan had been interested in pursuing a rematch despite the one-sided nature of the bout.

"I've had a long chat with my family and my parents, and it's over for me. I'll never box again," Brook told the Sunday Telegraph.

"It's a little emotional to be actually saying this out loud. My mum 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 added that he had to wait until he had beaten Khan before he could retire. "I needed the Khan fight, I needed to settle the grudge, the feud," he said.

"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 - nicknamed The Special One - started boxing aged nine at the Ingle Gym in Sheffield. His father brought him to the gym to help constructively channel his energy.

It wasn’t long before the coaches at the gym saw his natural ability and potential and Brook started his amateur career aged just 12.

He went on to win two Amateur Boxing Association of England titles and two National Association of Boys Clubs British Boxing Championships.

In 2003, he won gold for England at the Four Nations Junior Tournament and turned professional shortly after his 18th birthday.

He made his professional debut in 2004 against an experienced opponent in Peter Bukley at the Don Valley Stadium. Brook went on to win by six round points.

Having earned his chance of a title shot, Brook fought Barrie Jones for the vacant British Welterweight title and won with a seventh round stoppage.

He defended the title a further three times and in 2009 he was named the Young British Boxer of the Year by the Boxing Writers Club.

The WBO Inter-Continental title came next in 2010 when he demolished Krzysztof Bienias in six rounds at the ECHO Arena in Liverpool.

In 2014, he realised a life’s dream when he became the IBF World Welterweight champion with a majority decision over champion Shawn Porter at the StubHub Center, Carson California.