A few notes from around the boxing world:

• Welterweight titlist Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs), forced to call off his first defense scheduled for Dec. 6 after being stabbed in the leg while on vacation in early September, said his injury has healed and he is making plans for a ring return. "I'm back training, having no problem with the leg," he said. "I'll be back in the boxing ring defending my world title in March."

England's Brook, 28, won a majority decision against Shawn Porter to win a world title on Aug. 16 at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California.

• The Saturday afternoon live HBO broadcast of heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko's dominant fifth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev averaged 620,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The fight peaked at 694,000 viewers. Combined with HBO's midnight replay, the fight averaged 1.20 million viewers, which is not bad considering that HBO did not announce that it would carry the fight until a week earlier, when it finalized a three-fight contract with Klitschko.

• Blue chip featherweight prospect Oscar Valdez (13-0, 12 KOs), who knocked out former title challenger Alberto Garza in the seventh round of a strong performance on Saturday night, will make a quick return. He has been added to Top Rank's Dec. 20 UniMas-televised card in the co-feature, manager Frank Espinoza told ESPN.com. Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian, will face an opponent to be announced at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix on the undercard of heavyweight Andy Ruiz's next bout.