Boxing
Josh Kelly handed two world title shots in the span of three days
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Josh Kelly’s dreams of becoming a world champion have received a major boost this week, with two organisations offering him a route to a belt.
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) ordered their super middleweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev to face Sunderland-born Kelly in a mandatory defence of his title earlier this week.
But 31-year-old Kelly has also been named as a top contender by the World Boxing Organisation (WBO), who have now lifted the 17-1-1 (9 KOs) fighter from number three to number one in their rankings of the 154lbs division.
Xander Zayas is the current holder of the WBO belt at super middleweight, the Puerto Rican defeating Jorge Garcia Perez for the vacant strap in July.
Kelly made the decision to move up to super welterweight after losing to European Boxing Union (EBU) welterweight champion David Avanesyan in 2021.
Kelly last fought in June, knocking out Flavius Biea after two minutes.
After three years of campaigning at 154lbs, it appears that ‘Pretty Boy’ is on the cusp of getting a world title shot. Kelly has been a sought-after opponent recently, with former unified welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis also holding talks with the Brit.
After weighing up the offer, Kelly’s team opted to wait for another opportunity – with two seeming to arrive at once.
Zayas has not yet been ordered by the WBO to make the first defence of his title, so it remains to be seen whether Kelly will steer towards fighting IBF champion Murtazaliev.
Since winning the title in April 2024, Murtazaliev has made one defence of his belt, defeating Tim Tszyu in October of last year. Despite being rated at number three by the IBF, Kelly was selected as the mandatory challenger.
That is because no fighter is currently ranked at number two by the IBF, whilst number one contender Erickson Lubin is already scheduled to face Vergil Ortiz Jr for the interim World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight title.
The 154lbs division is one boxing’s most logjammed weight classes, with other big names such as Sebastian Fundora, Israil Madrimov, and Serhii Bohachuk all operating at super welterweight.
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