Josh Kelly (boxer)

Josh Kelly (born 7 March 1994[2]) is an English professional boxer who has held the British light-middleweight title since 2022 and previously the Commonwealth welterweight title from 2018 to 2019.[3] As an amateur competed in the men's welterweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2015 European Games, in which he won a bronze medal, representing Great Britain.[4]

For other people named Josh Kelly, see Josh Kelly (disambiguation).

Josh Kelly
Statistics
Nickname(s)Pretty Boy[1]
Weight(s)
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[2]
Reach72 in (183 cm)[2]
Born (1994-03-07) 7 March 1994
Sunderland, England
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights16
Wins14
Wins by KO7
Losses1
Draws1
Medal record
Men's amateur boxing
Representing United Kingdom Great Britain
European Games
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Baku Welterweight

He is a supporter of Sunderland AFC[5][6]

Professional career

Having competed in the Olympics, Kelly's first fight as a professional was a six rounds points victory (59-55) against Jay Byrne (4-1) of Dublin in April 2017 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on the undercard of Ricky Burns vs. Julius Indongo.[7]

Kelly won his next two fights in the next two months, defeating Spain's Jony Vila (6-1) and Gateshead's Tom Whitfield (4-1) by fourth-round stoppage and first-round knockout respectively.[8][9] The Vila fight took place at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham in May whilst the Whitfield fight took place at the Walker Activity Dome, Newcastle in June, with his fight being the main event.[10][11]

Kelly finished the year with a record of 5-0 after victories over Mexico's Jose Luis Zuniga (13-2-1) and France's Jean Michel Hamilcaro (25-8-3), winning by second-round stoppage and sixth-round stoppage respectively in October and December. Those fights took place at the SSE Arena, Belfast and the York Hall, London.

Kelly vs. Robinson

On June 1, 2019, Kelly fought Ray Robinson, who was ranked #13 by the WBC and #15 by the WBO at welterweight. Kelly was ranked #9 by the WBA at welterweight. The contest was even and ended up in a majority draw, with one scorecard going in favour of Kelly, 96-94, while the other two read 95-95 twice.[12]

Kelly vs. Campos

In his next fight, Kelly fought Wiston Campos. Kelly was struggling to handle Campos at times, but nonetheless managed to win the bout via unanimous decision, scoring 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91 on the scorecards.[13]

Kelly vs. Avanesyan

In his next fight, Kelly fought highly ranked welterweight David Avanesyan, who was ranked #6 by the IBF, #7 by the WBC, #9 by the WBA and #10 by the WBO at the time. Avanesyan showed to be the better man on the night and finished Kelly within six rounds.[14][15]

Kelly is the current British light middleweight champion after beating Troy Williamson by unanimous decision at the Newcastle Arena on 2nd December 2022.

Professional boxing record
16 fights 14 wins 1 loss
By knockout 7 1
By decision 7 0
Draws 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
16 Win 14–1–1 Gabriel Alberto Corzo UD 12 15 Jul 2023 Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle, England Retained WBO International super welterweight title
15 Win 13–1–1 Troy Williamson UD 12 2 Dec 2022 Newcastle Arena, Newcastle, England Won British light-middleweight title
14 Win 12–1–1 Lucas Bastida UD 10 30 Jul 2022 Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle, England Won vacant WBO International super welterweight title
13 Win 11–1–1 Peter Kramer TKO 4 (10), 2:31 17 Jun 2022 Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, England
12 Loss 10–1–1 David Avanesyan TKO 6 (12), 2:15 20 Feb 2021 The SSE Arena, London, England For European welterweight title
11 Win 10–0–1 Wiston Campos UD 10 20 Dec 2019 Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
10 Draw 9–0–1 Ray Robinson MD 10 1 Jun 2019 Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US Retained WBA International welterweight title
9 Win 9–0 Przemyslaw Runowski UD 10 20 Apr 2019 The O2 Arena, London, England Retained WBA International welterweight title
8 Win 8–0 Walter Fabian Castillo TKO 1 (10), 2:55 10 Nov 2018 Manchester Arena, Manchester, England
7 Win 7–0 Kris George RTD 7 (12), 3:00 16 Jun 2018 Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England Retained WBA International welterweight title;
Won Commonwealth welterweight title
6 Win 6–0 Carlos Molina UD 10 31 Mar 2018 Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales Won vacant WBA International welterweight title
5 Win 5–0 Jean Michel Hamilcaro TKO 6 (10), 2:06 13 Dec 2017 York Hall, London, England
4 Win 4–0 Jose Luis Zuniga TKO 2 (6), 1:41 21 Oct 2017 SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
3 Win 3–0 Tom Whitfield KO 1 (8), 1:19 23 Jun 2017 Walker Activity Dome, Newcastle, England
2 Win 2–0 Jony Vina TKO 4 (6), 1:27 13 May 2017 Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, England
1 Win 1–0 Jay Byrne PTS 6 15 Apr 2017 The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland

References
  1. "The true Josh Kelly is no 'Pretty Boy'". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  2. Netherton, Alexander (2 December 2022). "What time is Troy Williamson vs. Josh Kelly tonight? Ringwalks, running order, streaming, how to watch". DAZN. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  3. "BoxRec". boxrec.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  4. "Josh Kelly". Rio2016.com. Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  5. "Eddie Hearn: Sunderland fan Josh Kelly must fight at the Stadium of Light". 14 February 2020.
  6. "Josh Kelly wants Stadium of Light clash against Conor Benn after David Avanesyan bout".
  7. "BoxRec". boxrec.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  8. "BoxRec". boxrec.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  9. "BoxRec". boxrec.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  10. "BoxRec". boxrec.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  11. "BoxRec". boxrec.com. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  12. "Kelly vs Robinson - News, Tape, Ringwalk, TV, Streaming & Tickets". Box.Live. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  13. Christ, Scott (20 December 2019). "Liam Smith and Josh Kelly win on Jacobs-Chavez undercard". Bad Left Hook. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  14. "Avanesyan vs Kelly - News, Tape, Ringwalk, TV, Streaming & Tickets". Box.Live. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  15. "David Avanesyan vs Josh Kelly results as Brit loses unbeaten record to rampaging Russian". SecondsOut Boxing News. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
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