DESPITE a middleweight win under the Wembley arch against Ishmael Davis last time out, Josh Kelly has decided to return to the super-welterweight division and fights at 154lbs on Friday night for the first time since 2023.
An ever-present in the super-welterweight world rankings, Kelly, 16-1-1 (8 KOs), still lacks the statement win to convince British fight fans that he is capable of claiming a world title – an expectation placed upon him since he turned professional.
Those ambitions were severely dented when David Avanesyan stopped him in 2021. Since then, Kelly has been untested for the most part thanks to cautious matchmaking and dominant performances against underwhelming opponents.
Notably, ‘Pretty Boy Kelly’ delivered a career-best win against Troy Williamson in late 2022 to claim the British super-welterweight title and leave his fans assuming that a world title charge would be on the horizon, but still his Sunderland faithful are left waiting.
Since then, Kelly has appeared on three occasions, routing Gabriel Corzo and stopping Placido Ramirez in 2023, before moving up to middleweight and taking on late-notice replacement Davis after former world champion Liam Smith pulled out of their scheduled Wembley contest in September.
Kelly went on to dominate proceedings against Davis, until the final-round where the Yorkshireman threatened to pull off a dramatic stoppage win, but when the scorecards awarded a close majority-decision to Kelly, much of the crowd were left confused as to why the judges felt his display did not warrant a win of wider margin.
Whether it was Davis’ late surge or Kelly’s possible fatigue due to the extra weight, that contest appears to have convinced the 31-year-old that he is best suited to the super-welterweight division, where he remains ranked as the world #4 with both the IBF and WBO.
Upon his return, Kelly is tasked with Romania’s Flavius Biea, 24-1 (12 KOs), who has fought the majority of his career in his homeland but does boast a 2019 York Hall win [against Berman Sanchez] in his lone outing on British soil.
Biea has also fluctuacted between 154lbs and 160lbs in recent fights, with a seventh-round stoppage win against Jonathan Jose Eniz 13 months ago. The victory gave Biea the WBC Latino super-welterweight title and earned him this opportunity.
JOSH KELLY VS FLAVIUS BIEA FIGHT PREDICTION
The goals for Josh Kelly seem to be either a world title fight or a lucrative showdown with Conor Benn, or both, but for either of those things to happen he needs to build some momentum.
Here, Biea should be completely overmatched, and Kelly will be expected to get the stoppage win if he presses for it.
Hopefully, we see Kelly go on the hunt and search for the statement win that gets people talking. Kelly can win by mid-round stoppage, between rounds 5-8.
