Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Still recovering after being stabbed while on holiday in the Canary Islands two months ago, IBF welterweight titleholder Kell Brook said he will be back in full training next week and hopes to be fit enough to fight next March.

The 28-year-old from Sheffield, England, was left with an 11-inch knife-wound to the upper part of his left thigh following the brutal attack, which came just two weeks after he had taken the IBF strap off American Shawn Porter with a memorable on-the-road points win.

In an interview with Sky Sports News HQ this week, Brook admitted he feared he would die, such was the severity of the leg injury sustained. Now, though, after eight weeks intense rehabilitation under the watchful eye of his local football club, Sheffield United, he is targeting a return to the ring in spring 2015.

“We have March 7 down but we’ll just have to see how things go,” said Brook (33-0, 22 knockouts), THE RING’s No. 4 at 147 pounds. “But I am feeling tip top now. I am ready to get back in the gym again and start training hard.”

On the attack itself, Brook said it was sparked by what he thought was a friendly debate on the differences between boxing and street fighting. The identity of the perpetrator, whom Brook said he met that night, is not known and no arrests have been made.

“We were getting on fine but before I knew it he had this knife and, with no warning, he swiped me in the leg,” he said. “Blood was spurting all over and I thought: ‘This is it now. I am going to die here’.”

The medical team at Sheffield United has been impressed with the speed of Brook’s recovery.

“The knife had gone right through one of the muscles,” explained the club’s physiotherapist, Ed Owen. “He had to have it surgically reattached. We had a lot of muscle wasting but gradually we are getting that back now.

“You can just start to see the muscle bolt coming back higher up the leg. We have been really pleased with it. “