“I told you,” said Josh Kelly as he sat down for the press conference following his upset win over Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Few had given the Brit a chance of dethroning the Russian IBF junior middleweight champion, but Kelly was superb, and edged a close fight by majority decision over 12 rounds. Kelly had said in the build up that he had envisioned Murtazaliev on the floor during their bout, and that happened in the fourth round when a sharp jab sent the Russian tumbling to the canvas.
“I told him [I’d drop him], even on private message,” said Kelly. “We messaged each other a little bit, and he said, ‘You'll be hiding.’ I said, ‘Listen, I'll land first and you'll end up on your back,’ and he was like, ‘Yes, of course.’ Well, there you are. I told you and I did it. God is good.”
That was not the only vision Kelly had in the build up.
“I was praying the other day and I had this vision of me being knocked down,” he recalled. “It wasn't a nice vision, it was me being knocked down in one of the rounds. And then I got back up, but then a couple of rounds later, I had this feeling where I could get sloppy, feel tired, get hurt and lose the fight. And afterwards, I was going back to everyone, ‘I was winning that fight so easy, why did I get caught in that stupid shot?’”
With Kelly cruising in round nine disaster struck, and the man from Sunderland found himself down and hurt badly from a short left hook.
“I had another feeling where I was like, ‘Right, you can tighten up now, get back to boxing and see these couple of rounds and you win the fight.’ It wasn't a nice thought, but when I was actually in there it happened. So I couldn't really remember the rest of Round 9. I think I couldn't remember Round 10. [Then in Round 11] I had this vision, an out-of-body experience, seeing me and him there doing it. I think I even said it under my breath, ‘I've got deja vu.’ I knew someone was there with us, just working in a different way. God's great. And now I've got this [IBF 154lb title].”
There were concerns that Kelly may lack the durability and heart to deal with the hard hitting Murtazaliev after his performance against David Avaneseyan back in 2021. Kelly had been down heavily against Avaneseyan and crumbled, but with the win over Murtazaliev he may now have finally put memories of that performance to bed.
“I put it to bed a long time ago, it's just all you fucking stupid bastards,” Kelly joked, talking to the media. “Every fucking interview, it's like Avaneseyan. I'm thinking fucking when’s this going to leave us? But hopefully, or whatever, it's done. I showed that I'm not weight drained. I showed that I'm healthy. I showed that I'm happy, and when I'm on song I can box for 12 rounds to a plan. I showed that I can get caught, and get back up, and finish the fight off. I don't think many people thought I had that in me. I knew I always had it in me.”
Talk then turned to what could be next for the newly crowned IBF 154lb champion in one of the most booming divisions in the sport. Kelly’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith, revealed that the home of soccer team Sunderland FC had already been in touch about bringing Kelly’s first defense to the 48,000 capacity Stadium of Light.
“Yeah, a Stadium of Light fight, man,” said Kelly. “There's plenty of names who can fill that stadium. We've got domestic fights, we've got overseas fighters, we've got loads of people who can fill in that spot and make this a crazy night at Stadium of Light. That'll be... I mean, this is history made, so if I hang up my gloves now, I'll be happy. But now it's time to go and really get them big fights, get the people chatting, get your nextdoor neighbour talking, get her talking, him talking, whoever, and really put them fights together.”
One man who could likely fill the stadium if he stood in the opposing corner is former unified welterweight champion, and promotional stablemate, Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Part of Kelly’s deal with Matchroom prior to signing is already agreed to terms to face Ennis.
Kelly was asked whether Ennis could be that man and chose to ask trainer Adam Booth to speak on his behalf.
“It's possible. We signed a multi-fight deal with Matchroom and one of the options is ‘Boots’ Ennis,” Booth replied. “Not the only option. There's other names in the contract. We'll see. Frank [Smith] and Eddie [Hearn] will talk. We'll talk. We'll make a plan.”
“He's in a great position, though, to do what he wants to do,” added Matchroom’s Smith. “There's so many big fights out there. ‘Boots’ [Ennis] is one, but there's huge fights out there to be made, when you deliver a performance like that, and you've got the fanbase that backs it, the atmosphere, and the looks like he has [got].”
