Josh Kelly talks about teasing Team GB team-mates, harsh headlines, and frozen eye lashes in Kazakhstan
Thursday 9 February 2017 18:06, UK
After becoming the latest Team GB boxer to turn professional, we asked Josh Kelly to reveal more about life inside and outside the ring...
Kelly makes his first appearance on the undercard of the Ricky Burns-Julius Indongo unification clash in Glasgow on April 15, live on Sky Sports, and tells us more about himself...
Are you excited about making your debut on Sky Sports on April 15?
Glasgow will be a good show to get on. It will be absolutely buzzing up there with Ricky Burns and all his fans.
Who are your boxing idols?
Pernell Whitaker. Everyone says Naseem Hamed, because he's got that flashy style, but Whitaker is my main one. He's got the style that I like, he can box, fight inside, and he's showed off some sick little moves in the ring.
Did you seek any advice from fellow boxers?
I know a lot of the professional boxers. I'm friends with the recent amateurs who have turned over like Charlie Edwards, Lucien Reid and Ryan Burnett. They have been telling me to relax, because journeyman look easy, but you have to take your time.
Have you drastically changed your eating habits?
That story needs to get blown out. I quit in January-February and just lived a normal life. If you're conditioned to be an athlete, once you start living a normal live, you do gain pounds - it's obvious.
It was totally blown up into me needing a 'fat man diet'
I'm not fighting, I'm not training at my natural weight, so when you start eating normally you are going to gain pounds. It was totally blown up into me needing a 'fat man diet'.
How do you spend time away from the ring?
I end up walking the dogs most of the time. My fiancé has got a miniature toy poodle and a cockapoo as well. I have moved down to Berkhamsted and I'm always doing stuff, getting out and seeing London. You never get bored in London.
Joe Cordina says you like to look after your image?
I've got some dirt on Cordina. Joe comes across as the nicest person in the world, but he is the easiest person to wind up.
Josh Kelly came in and we couldn't get him out of the mirror.
When I first got in the squad and started giving him stick about his trainers, he could not take it. He's got that Welsh fire in him and he likes himself a lot as well!
Any other secrets about your Team GB mates?
Muhammad Ali is a bit of mad one. I shared a room with him and he snores and talks in his sleep.
How will you remember your amateur career?
It's been a rollercoaster ride. The ups obviously were the Olympics, the world championship bronze, the European bronze, all the different titles.
But the downs have been going away to countries where it's freezing and you have to make weight. I remember going to Kazakhstan and my eyelashes froze up when I walked outside. I couldn't see a thing and ran back inside.
Was it a bittersweet experience at the Olympics
If I had won my next fight, I would have got a medal - that was the disappointing part. I was ill at the start of the Olympics and needed antibiotics. It's just how it is, I got a close fight against a world champion, and he's gone on to win gold.
What boxing style can we expect in the ring?
A bit of everything. A lot of people just rate me on my boxing, but I can fight as well. From time to time, I like to get stuck in. I'm a bit flashy, it's not cockiness, and I can also get into the trenches to get the job done.
