The true Josh Kelly is no 'Pretty Boy'
"The characteristics I portray in the ring don't transfer over to real-life"
Saturday 16 May 2020 07:17, UK
Josh Kelly is a self-confessed armchair critic. He understands why you have an opinion on him.
"I find myself doing it! I watch a lot of golf and think 'how could you hit such a bad shot?' But I then think 'are you mad?'"
The talented prospect nicknamed 'Pretty Boy' makes boxing look so easy that he attracts a roll of the eyes, and criticism has damaged him. In person he is a million miles away from what you expect.
Kelly fights with his hands down and his face unprotected - it is showmanship at its finest but, as a result, has divided boxing fans who can't decide if they want him to be the new 'Prince' Naseem Hamed or get knocked out for daring to be different.
"Walk down the street and if someone wears something different people will say 'look at him'," Kelly tells Sky Sports. He knows why his talent irks some people but it irks Kelly that he doesn't receive due credit for developing such unorthodox moves.
"It's years and years of work," he said. "I started at 11 or 12. Coaches said 'you can't do that'. I would go a full round out-boxing the other geezer. I'd get caught with one shot and everyone would say 'we saw that!' But what about the 20 or 30 clean shots I landed through his tight guard? I can box with a tight guard but I choose to be as awkward as I can.
"I like to entertain."
The flashy style inside the ring combined with a nickname that draws attention to a face that looks like it's never been punched? People make assumptions about Kelly's personality and would be shocked by how reserved and humble he is.
"I didn't choose the nickname, Eddie Hearn did! I roll with it," he sighs. "I'm starting not to care what people think.
"I'm an introvert. I just spend time with the kids and the Mrs. I like to try different restaurants. Low key. I like my alone time with my family, I don't like being in the public eye. The characteristics I portray in the ring don't transfer over to real life. People see someone on telly and say 'look at the way he boxes, he must be a…'
"But it's not at all. At the start it annoyed me when I got criticism. Now the past couple of years I don't waste my time worrying about what people think about me. Everyone has their two pennies' worth and I'm in a position where people can have an opinion, so it's my fault anyway!
"Under the pressure, everybody watching, after all the training, making weight, ring-walk, atmosphere? A normal geezer in a 9-5 job would struggle. I don't criticise him in his job. But he's a paying pundit so he has the right."
He is uncomfortable with the fame that comes with his occupation: "When I was a kid doing good things I got recognised, but social media amplifies it. You might be on holiday and someone comes over. Or you realise people have recognised you. Should I be eating this in front of people? Should I have a beer?"
At the heart of his burgeoning rivalry with Conor Benn is the back-and-forth accusation that the other prospect has had an easy ride.
Benn grew up wealthy while Kelly was raised in Sunderland to a working class family. Benn believes he had to fight to prove himself but Kelly's career is privileged because of his Olympic background.
But going to the 2016 Games in Rio was far from easy, and Kelly was no shoo-in. Two years earlier he broke a leg, and he was the last male boxer to qualify for Team GB.
"The people you compete against, just in Great Britain alone, to get there! High grade fighters," Kelly said. "I was picked above them then fought in the qualifiers that had been changed that year to make them even harder. Then I boxed in the Olympics and was beaten by the eventual gold medallist."
Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yeleussinov has since been signed by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom but hasn't exploded into the pro game like he may have hoped. Kelly vs Yeleussinov is another big future fight.
Kelly insists his Olympic route has prepared him for pro success: "Being battle-hardened is definitely the best way. You fight four or five times day to day against Cubans, Russians, Kazakhs, making weight every day. It's a different mental challenge. But I've seen good amateurs not make it as a professional. But if your style is more suited to the pros then turn over and get onto small hall shows. It will be hard at first but the cream always rises to the top if you're winning."
Benn has accused long-term amateur boxers of losing the love for their sport. Kelly said: "In some cases, yes. But not in my case. As a professional it is a new sport, training for one fight at a time, the light at the end of the tunnel. Amateurs was like a four-year treadmill. Ask me to box without my time in the limelight for four years now? It would burn you out. The pro structure suits me."
Kelly is unbeaten in 11, tainted by a draw on his US debut with Ray Robinson. Benn has criticised that performance. Robinson had lost three fights beforehand but also drew with Egidijus Kavaliauskas who has since given Terence Crawford a decent run for his money.
A European title challenge against David Avanesyan will be his next fight. Avanesyan's team have already hammered Kelly for withdrawing due to illness from their first scheduled meeting. People take one look at Kelly and make assumptions but there is more to him than meets the eye.
