Josh Kelly looks to Jaron Ennis and big names after bloody win over Caoimhin Agyarko

IBF junior middleweight champion Josh Kelly was given plenty to think about during a 12-round struggle against Irishman Caoimhin Agyarko.

Kelly’s face was cut to ribbons but he’d done enough good work to win narrowly by two scores of 115-112, with a third card favouring him by 114-113.

It was close, but Kelly’s face was a mess and his nose – in particular – was a state.

“That was a messy, hard fight,” admitted Kelly.

“I knew he was going to be very tricky, he had a good game plan, I had to show a different side to me at the end and that’s what a champion does. I want it [Jaron Ennis] next. I want the big names in the division.”

The opener was steady. Kelly was clearly not prepared to give ground and, as expected, the Northern Irishman was finding it tough to get used to the Sunderland man’s mesmerising handspeed.

Kelly snaked out his jab from the hip and was a constant threat with the right. Agyarko, trained by former top contender Stephen Smith, was persistent.

Kelly threw shots downstairs, often with his left hand, and he enjoyed an early burst in the fifth that had Agyarko smiling but under pressure.

Kelly picked up a verbal warning for punching to the back of the head in the fifth. The challenger let his hands go near the end of the round and, as things got rough, Kelly emerged with a mark under his left eye.

The champion had a point deducted in the sixth for punching behind the head again and that served to fire Agyarko up, with the challenger aggressive for the rest of the round.

Kelly shook his head in his corner as he stood to take instructions from his coach between rounds.

“Raise your game, raise your intensity,” trainer Adam Booth told Kelly before the seventh.

Agyarko was coming on. Kelly was now marked by the right eye and he took a right hand early in the session. Agyarko held his hand aloft to celebrate after each round.

Kelly was progressively losing his rhythm and showing out to the referee when Agyarko got rough on the inside.

“That was my round,” Kelly said after round eight. But it had been a close session and he’d eaten a clean left hook, too.

The referee paused the action for Agyarko to take a few moments after he complained that a shot had strayed low in the ninth and Kelly, having opened up and landed a good right hand, complained of taking an elbow that caused blood to stream from the bridge of his nose.

It looked like it was a clash of heads but, either way, it was not a punch that did the damage.

Agyarko would clutch Kelly and lean in headfirst and that frustrated the champion, though Kelly started the 10th well, landing a volley of shots to the body and head.

Kelly’s face was bloody and Agyarko, unmarked, stepped in with thudding jabs.

Kelly lost his mouthpiece in the 11th and, while Kelly was spitting out shots, he was unable to keep the challenger off and was, surely, fighting with a broken nose.

Even if his title was not in real danger, his “Pretty Boy” moniker was and his head was jerked back by another left hook near the end of the session.

“Fucking heads,” said Kelly to Booth.

His face was a mask of blood and, after the crimson was towelled off, he was clearly cut on his nose and around both eyes.

Kelly remained a threat with the uppercut and Agyarko waved the champion in after he’d been nailed by a left hook. At the bell, they both celebrated in the corners. Kelly’s face was dripping in blood and it seemed like he’d done enough – and he had.

Now 19-1-1 (9 KOs), he made the first defence of the title he won with victory over Bakhram Murtazaliev earlier in the year.

Agyarko, 18-1 (7 KOs), said he’d thought he’d done enough to win. “No excuses for me, I wasn’t good enough tonight. I lost. I did think I won it but it wasn’t enough for the judges. Well done to Josh and his team.”