By Jake Donovan

The press conference was delayed by a day, but promoter Frank Warren was finally ready to confirm earlier breaking news of Liam Smith facing Jimmy Kelly on December 19 in Manchester, England.

Smith will make the first defense of his super welterweight title, in chief support to the middleweight title fight between champ Andy Lee and unbeaten challenger Billy Joe Saunders. News of the recently added title fight was announced by Frank Warren during a press conference held Wednesday afternoon, confirming a breaking story from BoxingScene.com earlier in the week . 

“I can’t wait to make the opening defense of my world title against Kelly and if the fire in the ring matches the fire on the pitch when both teams clash it’s going to be one great fight,” said Smith (21-0-1, 11KOs), who is coming off of a 7th round knockout of John Thompson in their vacant title fight in October. “Kelly is a tough and unbeaten young challenger. He’s got passion and ambition; he’s ranked in the top ten of the WBO and he’ll have his own ideas about taking my prized world title off me in my first defense.  

“That’s fantastic and really gives me the motivation and buzz to give him a real hiding in the ring so I keep hold of my title. I’ve won the world title at a perfect time, I’m entering the prime of my career so there is much more to come from (me) and I’m not going to let an upstart like Kelly anywhere near taking my title. This belt is leaving with me back to its home in Liverpool.”
 
Kelly (16-0, 7KOs) comes in as the local favorite, in fact the matchup drawing promotional parallels to the longstanding football (soccer to the Yanks) rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool (Smith’s hometown). 

It’s an interesting angle, as it’s not often that fighters from the aforementioned cities meet in the ring in a major fight. The last such occurrence came in 1933, when Manchester’s Jackie Brown outpointed Liverpool’s Ginger Foran in their flyweight title bout. 

Eighty years later – almost to the day – Kelly hopes to produce similar magic, although history and a strong promotional push appear to be his best friends at the moment. 

The 23-year old is stepping way up in class, although he knows what he’s getting himself into. The two appeared on the same Manchester bill in October, with Kelly registering a 10-round win over Martin Rios hours before Smith became the first in his fighting family to win a major title. 

Whatever glimpse he got was enough to believe an upset is imminent.

“Smith’s reign is going to be a very, very brief one,” promises Kelly. “He’d better treasure and enjoy the next five weeks as world champion because it’s coming to an end on the 19th December in Manchester, just like Man United ended Liverpool’s success. I just know that this my time and I’m ready for my opportunity to become world champion.  

“Boxing is about opportunities; either you take them when they’re presented or you lose them and somebody else will take it. I’m not going to be someone who dwells on a missed opportunity and I’m going out there to smash up Liam Smith and take his world title. What will people say then when I become world champion? I’ll have too much of everything for Smith in every department.”

UNDERCARD AND TICKET INFO

The aforementioned title fights headline a loaded bill that will air live on BoxNation in the United Kingdom. The undercard includes such local and regional talent as:  Mitchell Smith, Paul Butler, Tommy Langford, Liam Williams, Jack Catterall, Adrian Gonzalez, Derry Matthews and Vijender Singh.
  
Tickets (subject to a booking fee) are priced at £40, £50, £75, £100, £200 and £300 are available from the following:
 
www.frankwarren.com 
 
TicketMaster
0844 844 0444
www.ticketmaster.co.uk
 
Eventim
0844 249 1000
www.eventim.co.uk
 
Manchester Arena
0161 950 5000
0161 950 5229 (disabled access bookings)
www.manchester-arena.co.uk

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox