Comments Thread For: Josh Kelly Looks Forward To Rebuilding Career, Getting Fresh Start

[thack]

Good lad with a lot of natural talent that might have made him think it was easy, he's got a lot to work on but good luck to him.

[deathofaclown]

That hands down approach is great—until you come up to higher level opposition. Your reflexes are great—until you fight someone who punches faster. I think seeing Naseem Hamed lose as he did should discourage fighting that way all the time.

He should go and train in the US. At Robert Garcia's gym. Maybe he should train with Reynoso. His defense is ****e.

The difference is Hamed lost to a truly great fighter and beat plenty of good fighters. No shame in that.

Hamed still had decent fundamentals when he wanted, look at the Kevin Kelley fight, after a while he settled his style down, jabbed a bit more, kept his defence a bit tighter and got the job done.

I said for years on here that Josh Kelly has never shown any real solid fundamentals to fall back on when he needed to and it was proven right in the Robinson fight and then his last fight where he got stopped.

People get too caught up and assume a flashy style with being gifted. Take away all the flashy moves from Kelly and he’s just a decent domestic level fighter. Hamed was world class.

Who knows, maybe Josh Kelly can prove everyone wrong, I still think he has some ability, i just don’t like the way he quickly folded. Not good signs.

[Butt stuff]

Now that people know he doesn’t have an engine, pop or a decent defense, he’ll just get walked down and stopped every time he steps up.

[Butt stuff]

The difference is Hamed lost to a truly great fighter and beat plenty of good fighters. No shame in that.

Hamed still had decent fundamentals when he wanted, look at the Kevin Kelley fight, after a while he settled his style down, jabbed a bit more, kept his defence a bit tighter and got the job done.

I said for years on here that Josh Kelly has never shown any real solid fundamentals to fall back on when he needed to and it was proven right in the Robinson fight and then his last fight where he got stopped.

People get too caught up and assume a flashy style with being gifted. Take away all the flashy moves from Kelly and he’s just a decent domestic level fighter. Hamed was world class.

Who knows, maybe Josh Kelly can prove everyone wrong, I still think he has some ability, i just don’t like the way he quickly folded. Not good signs.

Agree with all of this. Problem is, where Hamed was knocking everyone out, even at world level, Kelly was getting touched up and moved around by journeymen right from the start. Just two different worlds of talent.

[PRINCEKOOL]

Decent enough fighter.

For marketing reasons, it is probably better he stays at 147 'To work towards fights like Conor Benn'.

I don't think Benn hits as hard as David Avanesyan, so it will be a more competitive fight.

I would have Conor Benn winning the fight.

I have not read the article in full.

Note: So Kelly is moving up to 154 pounds, it will be interesting to see of is durability improves at that weight. I don't think it is a good idea for him to yo yo, up and down in weight. If he wants to fight Conor Benn or Avanesyan in the future, it will have to be at 154 pounds.

[Oldskoolg]

Wasn’t this the lad the matchroom kids were calling the next Roy Jones?

[steeve steel]

Too nice and no chin. Find some other work.

[nidaros997]

Bradley Skeete also stepped up to 154 after making his comeback. Bradley was very good at 147 at domestic level, while Kelly was touted as above British and even European level, which the fight summer 2019 against Robinson revealed that he wasn't. Hearn saw the flaws, and wanted him in a sink or swim fight (Hearn saying this himself in interviews prior to the scheduled 2021 Avanesyan fight).

Now Kelly needs to rebuild, but the domestic scene has lots of good British fighters at 147. Skeete lost to Lejarraga (who is a puncher) for the EBU title, and Kelly lost to Avanesyan who beat Lejarraga, for the EBU title. Skeete - Kelly would be the fight both of them really need to demonstrate they are at the highest domestic level at 154, before taking on one of the Mathroom fighters who will lose now shortly. Should Kelly (or Skeete) win 2-3 such domestic fights, they could challenge for the British title, at 154. That's the level Kelly is now, whatever happened outside the ring in the Avanesyan fight. Truth is, he doesn't have the stamina for more than 5-6 rounds if fighting under pressure, he has no power, poor defence, and needs to stop showboating. One could also question his will and chin after the Avanesyan fight.

He really needs to win some fights at domestic level now, and then win the British title. If he can't do that, he just isn't good enough. In his interview he says his comeback fight is at the European or semi-European level, whatever that means. If so, that's a fighter better than all the Matchroom super-welters (excluding Liam Smith who steps down one or two levels to fight Fowler), which I doubt. To me Kelly still sounds a bit delusional. If he cannot figure out where he truly is now in his career, I am afraid he will lose again soon. The script to beat him is written on the wall, so he better start improving on his flaws, or just leave boxing before he gets seriously hurt.