IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence (22-0, 19 KOs) is the fighter of the hour after last Saturday's performance before a hostile crowd of 27,000 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.

Spence traveled over to the champion's backyard and stopped Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) in eleven rounds to pick up the IBF belt.

Brook went down in the tenth and then took a voluntary knee for the full count in the eleventh round. Afterwards, Brook revealed that he suffered a fractured left orbital bone.

Spence felt the tide was starting to turn around the eight round, when he saw Brook's stamina was starting to dwindle and noticed the left eye was giving the Sheffield fighter some issues.

"I thought I was wearing him down in the eighth or ninth - he was slowing and I tried to step it up," said Spence to Sporting Life. "I was hitting him with some good shots and he was standing still a little bit more. Then I saw him blink a lot with the eye that was hurt and I decided to really jump on him. It started swelling up a lot more and the end came.

"I have total respect for him - he is a true champion. I took the belt away from the champion - I didn't just want to fight someone who was ranked for a vacant belt. He gave me the opportunity and I thank him for that."

Coming into this fight, there were a lot of questions regarding Spence's chin. Spence believes the fight with Brook was concrete proof that he can take a good shot.

"He hit me with some good shots but nothing that hurt. I proved a point that I can take a punch from a big, strong welterweight as some people had doubted that. The whole night was an amazing experience. I knew the crowd had come to cheer their man on, but British fans are great. I tried to use their energy and even their boos as a positive," Spence said.

"They did cheer at the end and it was great they showed respect even though their man had lost. It was a great experience in my young career, fighting away from home against a champion, the training camp and having to come to the UK a week before the fight. It was a legacy-defining fight for me."