Up until the latter half of 2016, Kell Brook's boxing career was in full flow.

The Sheffield born fighter had won all 36 of his opening fights as a professional, and had held the IBF welterweight title for a number of years.

However, his career then hit a roadblock.

Brook moved up two weight divisions and consequently was never the favourite to defeat Gennady Golovkin, the man many consider to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

And Brook's ambition didn't pay off as he was made to endure heavy punishment in the opening rounds of the fight, before eventually losing by TKO in the fifth.

The Sheffield fighter then lost his IBF title in his following fight as he was defeated by Eroll Spence, making it back-to-back defeats.

BROOK REVEALS PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF DEFEATS

Since losing to Spence in May 2017, Brook has taken nearly a year out of the sport as he recovers from that setback.

But the 31-year-old has now revealed just how much mental torment he has gone through in the past year, as he opened up about those two losses in a heartbreaking interview with the Guardian.

Reflecting on what happened after his fight against the American, Brook said: "I moved house and for six months I can’t remember getting up. I’d be laying there thinking, ‘What’s the point getting out of bed?’ Nobody is phoning up, saying: ‘Go to work.’

"I noticed after Spence the phone wasn’t ringing. All the hangers-on had vanished. When you win everything is great but when you’re losing nobody wants to know you – except for the people that really love you.

"I was going out, drinking a lot. When I was drinking I was thinking I was having a good time but it came back twice as bad, the depression. It was just a vicious circle – drinking, not caring about myself – and it gave me a bad low.

"I didn’t want to go on. People don’t know that. I hit rock bottom around Christmas. I remember sitting on my own, thinking: ‘No one loves me. What have I done to myself? What have I done to the people that do love me?’

"I was at home and my missus and kids were out. I thought, ‘I’ve let people down who really love me.’ It was very bad. I was thinking of retiring. Things weren’t great at home. I was a lost soul – the lowest I’ve ever been."

MEETINGS WITH A COUNSELLOR HELPED

And Brook revealed how speaking to a counsellor helped get his love back for the sport.

"Eventually, I knew I needed to fight again. I couldn’t leave the sport like that because it would probably end badly. I did speak to a counsellor after hitting rock bottom.

"It really did help, talking to somebody that didn’t know me and just pouring my heart out to them in a few sessions. That’s when I thought I’ve got unfinished business in boxing. I started to love boxing again."