What kind of man is Josh Kelly? That’s not an easy question to answer.
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He’s a man who enjoys wading through 12 or 15 gruelling rounds of sparring, but by his own admission is liable to switch off when he’s worked an opponent out on fight night. He’s a man whose nickname is ‘pretty boy’, but couldn’t care less about how he looks unless he’s inside the ring. He’s a man who has no problem running himself into the ground on a treadmill, to the point where he vomits, but describes himself as a “joker” around the gym.
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Still, describing Josh Kelly the boxer is an easier proposition. Put simply, he’s talented. Very talented.
Kelly fights out of trainer Adam Booth’s Redhill gym. The likes of David Haye, Andy Lee, George Groves and Billy Joe Saunders have all, at one time or another, spent time under Booth’s tutelage, but even he recognises there’s something special about Kelly.
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Booth has called Kelly the most naturally gifted fighter he’s ever worked with, which is some accolade considering the calibre of boxers that have graced Booth’s gym. But what is it about Kelly that makes him so good? What is it about this kid from Sunderland that means he can slip and counter better than the world champions Booth has trained before?
“I’ve been pushed since I was a kid off my Dad and off everything, so it’s in us now,” says Kelly. “If you say you can either do this run tonight or you can do that run tonight, as much as I want to take the easy option, I have to take the hard option”
“I was running the other day, and Adam told me to just do a steady run and I said ‘no’,” says Booth. “There’s a part of the run where you can either go left or right, the right way is the harder way and the left way is the easier way. Adam said just go the left way this time, but my mind was telling us ‘just do the right way’, so I took the right way and I ended up killing myself, but it’s one of those things.”
Kelly’s predilection for hard work wasn’t always as strong as it is today though. As an amateur, he displayed the kind of talent that convinced Booth he could be a world champion, but, for a while, he believed that he could get by on talent alone. That notion was well-and-truly KO’d in the round of 16 at the 2016 Rio Olympics where Kelly lost to eventual gold medallist, and current Matchroom Boxing stablemate, Daniyar Yeleussinov.
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“I didn’t have a man’s head on my shoulders at the time. I was a teenager coming through, I was 17, 18,19 and thought I knew everything,” says Kelly. “But there’s a lot more to the game. Now I’m 24, I’m feeling as though when I look back at myself I’ve changed a lot. I’ve grown up a lot.”
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Growing up means that Kelly is now ‘living the life’ to go along with his talent. With a baby on the way and a family to provide for, he’s had to no choice but to grow up and become a man, but in boxing terms he’s still a boy. He’s only had seven professional fights and has never had to go past seven rounds in any of them. Still, the Boxing Writers Club’s Young Boxer of the Year, is preparing now for tougher challenges to come.
“You’ve got to find things within yourself when you’re in the ring sometimes. Behind all the skill that people possess there has got to be something else,” says Kelly. “But don’t worry about me, I’ve got plenty of whatever else you need, so I’m more than ready to enter those places with the people who think they can push us because I’m ready to go that extra mile and dig you out.”
Kelly talks about his mental strength as being one of his defining characteristics. His love of sparring also goes some way to explaining why he’s been able to develop a boxing IQ that belies his years. Kelly explains how he’ll happily go 15-plus rounds in sparring, if his trainer lets him, and almost has to beg Booth to keep sending him new lambs to the slaughter. “I was in Monaco and I did 17 or 18 rounds with 8 or 9 different lads who had 2 rounds each,” says Booth. “I just love sparring.”
Of course, you can’t talk about Kelly without talking about his nickname. He earned the title ‘pretty boy’ while training with Team GB’s boxing squad. “All the lads said, ‘Kelly loves himself’ and all that and used to take the mick, and I used it to take the mick out of myself,” says Kelly. Then when he turned professional, his promoter, Eddie Hearn, decided it was the perfect moniker for him. Kelly isn’t so sure.
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“As soon as someone hears it they think I’m a certain way, but I’m not that kind of guy,” says Kelly. “I’m a really light hearted, jokey, laughy, and I don’t take myself seriously what-so-ever outside of the ring. When I go into fight it’s a different story, I become sort of an alter-ego. I become alive in front of everyone. I think outside of the ring it’s totally different, so to carry that name is quite hard, so I might have to change it in the future you never know.”
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Booth and Kelly have already, jokingly, discussed alternative nicknames. Kelly likes the initials PBK, he just doesn’t want to carry the burden of what the P and the B actually stand for. Booth has suggested that Kelly be known as ‘the janitor’ because he’s going to clean up the welterweight division. Whatever they decide it’ll have to encompass all of Kelly’s best qualities, so it has to be something that speaks to his hard-working nature, but also something that tells people he’s a laugh. It also has to be something that immediately tells people that Josh Kelly is a fighter, a thinker and a family man.
Good luck, lads.
