By Elliot Foster
Josh Kelly took less than a round to move to 8-0 in the paid code.
The Sunderland welterweight, who has the WBA Inter-Continental and Commonwealth titles at the weight, dismantled Walter Fabian Castillo inside a round.
Kelly boxed at Manchester Arena, as part of the supporting cast to Tony Bellew’s challenge against Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC, WBA Super, IBF, WBO and Ring Magazine world cruiserweight titles, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN Stateside.
And after advancing his flawless ledger against an Argentine who slips to 13-3 with three early after Mark Lyson called a halt to the action after two minutes and 55 seconds, it was revealed that ‘PBK’ will be back in the ring on December 8, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
Kelly will feature on the same card, at the FlyDSA Arena in Sheffield, as Well Brook’s WBA welterweight title eliminator against Michael Zerafa.
“I’m finished at this sort of level now and I want to move on and test myself,” Kelly said afterwards. “Whatever Adam [Booth] says and whatever Eddie Hearn fancies, put it in front of me and I’ll deal with it.”
David Avanesyan, the former WBA ‘regular’ world champion, will be the man in the opposite corner on the undercard of Brook’s clash with Zerafa.
“I believe I’m going all the way and I wouldn’t be in this game if I didn’t think I would.”
Avanesyan (23-3-1 with 11 early) has been in with Lamont Peterson and Shane Mosley in the past but will go into the fight on the back of a defeat, having lost to Egidijus Kavaliauskas for the NABF title back in February.