Josh Kelly (born 7 March 1994) is an English professional boxer. He is a former British light-middleweight and Commonwealth welterweight title holder. As an amateur he competed in the men's welterweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2015 European Games, in which he won a bronze medal.
Representing Great Britain, Kelly won a bronze medal in the 69kg category at the 2015 European Games in Azerbaijan, losing in the semi-finals to the host nation's eventual champion Parviz Baghirov.[3]
The following year he was selected for the Rio Olympics, where he lost in the round-of-16 to Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yeleussinov who went on to win the gold medal.[4]
Kelly's first fight as a professional was a six rounds points victory (59-55) against Jay Byrne (4-1) of Dublin in April 2017 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on the undercard of Ricky Burns vs. Julius Indongo.[5]
Kelly won his next two fights in the next two months, defeating Spain's Jony Vila (6-1) and Gateshead's Tom Whitfield (4-1) by fourth-round stoppage and first-round knockout respectively.[6][7] The Vila fight took place at the Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham in May whilst the Whitfield fight took place at the Walker Activity Dome, Newcastle in June, with his fight being the main event.[8][9]
Kelly finished the year with a record of 5-0 after victories over Mexico's Jose Luis Zuniga (13-2-1) and France's Jean Michel Hamilcaro (25-8-3), winning by second-round stoppage and sixth-round stoppage respectively in October and December. Those fights took place at the SSE Arena, Belfast and the York Hall, London.[citation needed]
On June 1, 2019, Kelly fought Ray Robinson, who was ranked #13 by the WBC and #15 by the WBO at welterweight. Kelly was ranked #9 by the WBA at welterweight. The contest was even and ended up in a majority draw, with one scorecard going in favour of Kelly, 96-94, while the other two read 95-95 twice.[10]
In his next fight, Kelly fought Wiston Campos. Kelly won the bout via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91.[11]
In his next fight, Kelly fought highly ranked welterweight David Avanesyan, who was ranked #6 by the IBF, #7 by the WBC, #9 by the WBA and #10 by the WBO at the time. Avanesyan showed to be the better man on the night and finished Kelly within six rounds.[12][13]
Kelly won the British light-middleweight title by beating defending champion Troy Williamson by unanimous decision at Newcastle Arena on 2 December 2022.[14]
Kelly was scheduled to face Liam Smith at Wembley Stadium in London, England on 21 September 2024.[15] On September 13, 2024 it was reported that the latter withdrew due to illness.[16] On 16 September 2024 it was announced that Smith was replaced by Ishmael Davis.[17] Kelly won by majority decision winning the two judges awarding the fight to him and the third scoring it as a draw.[18]
At Newcastle Arena on 6 June 2025, he defeated Flavius Biea by first round stoppage. Kelly knocked his opponent to the canvas and, although Biea, got back to his feet, the referee decided he was not fit to continue and waved off the contest.[19]
| 19 fights | 17 wins | 1 loss |
|---|---|---|
| By knockout | 9 | 1 |
| By decision | 8 | 0 |
| Draws | 1 | |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Win | 17–1–1 | Flavius Biea | KO | 1 (10), 2:03 | 6 Jun 2025 | Newcastle Arena, Newcastle, England | |
| 18 | Win | 16–1–1 | Ishmael Davis | MD | 12 | 21 Sep 2024 | Wembley Stadium, London, England | |
| 17 | Win | 15–1–1 | Placido Ramirez | KO | 3 (12), 2:38 | 16 Dec 2023 | Beacon of Light, Sunderland, England | |
| 16 | Win | 14–1–1 | Gabriel Alberto Corzo | UD | 12 | 15 Jul 2023 | Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle, England | Retained WBO International super welterweight title |
| 15 | Win | 13–1–1 | Troy Williamson | UD | 12 | 2 Dec 2022 | Newcastle Arena, Newcastle, England | Won British light-middleweight title |
| 14 | Win | 12–1–1 | Lucas Bastida | UD | 10 | 30 Jul 2022 | Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle, England | Won vacant WBO International super welterweight title |
| 13 | Win | 11–1–1 | Peter Kramer | TKO | 4 (10), 2:31 | 17 Jun 2022 | Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, England | |
| 12 | Loss | 10–1–1 | David Avanesyan | TKO | 6 (12), 2:15 | 20 Feb 2021 | The SSE Arena, London, England | For European welterweight title |
| 11 | Win | 10–0–1 | Wiston Campos | UD | 10 | 20 Dec 2019 | Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. | |
| 10 | Draw | 9–0–1 | Ray Robinson | MD | 10 | 1 Jun 2019 | Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, US | Retained WBA International welterweight title |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Przemyslaw Runowski | UD | 10 | 20 Apr 2019 | The O2 Arena, London, England | Retained WBA International welterweight title |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Walter Fabian Castillo | TKO | 1 (10), 2:55 | 10 Nov 2018 | Manchester Arena, Manchester, England | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Kris George | RTD | 7 (12), 3:00 | 16 Jun 2018 | Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle, England | Retained WBA International welterweight title; Won Commonwealth welterweight title |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Carlos Molina | UD | 10 | 31 Mar 2018 | Principality Stadium, Cardiff, Wales | Won vacant WBA International welterweight title |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Jean Michel Hamilcaro | TKO | 6 (10), 2:06 | 13 Dec 2017 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Jose Luis Zuniga | TKO | 2 (6), 1:41 | 21 Oct 2017 | SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Tom Whitfield | KO | 1 (8), 1:19 | 23 Jun 2017 | Walker Activity Dome, Newcastle, England | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Jony Vina | TKO | 4 (6), 1:27 | 13 May 2017 | Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, England | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Jay Byrne | PTS | 6 | 15 Apr 2017 | The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, Scotland |
