# Josh Kelly (boxer)

Josh Kelly (born 7 March 1994) 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. 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.
He is a supporter of Sunderland AFC

## 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.
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. 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.
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.

### 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.

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

### Kelly vs. Davis

Kelly was scheduled to face Liam Smith at Wembley Stadium in London, England on September 21, 2024. On September 13, 2024 it was reported that the latter withdrew due to illness. On September 16, 2024 it was announced that Smith was replaced by Ishmael Davis.

## Professional boxing record

| 18 fights | 16 wins | 1 loss |
| By knockout | 8 | 1 |
| By decision | 8 | 0 |
| Draws | 1 | 1 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 18 | Win | 16–1–1 | Ishmael Davis | MD | 3 | 21 Sep 2024 | Wembley Stadium, London, England | |
| 17 | Win | 15–1–1 | Placido Ramirez | KO | 3 (12), 2:38 | 16 Dec 2023 | Beacon of Light, Sunderland, England | |
| 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 | |