Josh Kelly captures the IBF World Super Welterweight title in a thrilling fight in which both he and defending champion Bakhram Murtazaliev were knocked down.
Josh Kelly has secured the IBF world semi-middleweight title in a high-class battle. The local hero dethroned Bakhram Murtazaliev at the Newcastle Arena and made Matchroom history in front of his home crowd. Kelly (18-1-1, 9 knockouts) wrestled the title from Russia’s Murtazaliev (23-1, 17 knockouts) by majority decision – in an extremely close fight in which both boxers kissed the ring floor. The judges scored the world championship fight 113-113, 115-111 and 114-113 in favor of the Englishman.
Murtazaliev went down in round four when he ran into a stiff jab that sent him flat on his back. Kelly himself later found himself in serious trouble: in the ninth round he was hit hard by a left hook on the inside distance and went down heavily. Although he just managed to get to his feet, Murtazaliev sensed the chance of an early victory. However, Kelly showed heart, clung on cleverly through the critical phase and saved himself – enough for the points victory and the world championship belt.
In the co-main event, former world title challenger Josh Padley (18-1, 6 knockouts) secured the vacant EBU super featherweight title with a spectacular stoppage win in round two against Frenchman Jaouad Belmehdi (23-3-3, 11 knockouts). Padley sent his opponent down several times, first with a left hook to the head before ending the fight with a cracking right hand 25 seconds before the bell. There was also world-class boxing on the undercard: IBF lightweight world champion Elif Nur Turhan (13-0, 8 knockouts) defended her title with a split decision win over Taylah Gentzen (8-2, 3 knockouts). The judges scored the bout 96-94 and 98-92 for Turhan and 97-93 for Gentzen.