Josh Kelly welcomes the opportunity to defend his IBF junior middleweight championship against Conor Benn, with a stadium fight in the works
The newly crowned IBF junior middleweight world champion Josh Kelly has called out Conor Benn for a fight that has been bubbling for a number of years.
Josh Kelly had the crowning moment of his career at the end of January when he defeated Bakhram Murtazaliev by majority decision in front of a home crowd in the north east.
Kelly has become the first ever world champion from Sunderland, and the world is now his oyster, with the win catapulting him to the top of a division that is filled with high level operators.
Question marks had always been raised by the boxing public surrounding Kelly’s temperament and frame of mind, that had arguably let him down in the past in his only career defeat to David Avanesyan.
Both Kelly and trainer Adam Booth have rebuilt superbly and their hard work paid off when his hand was raised defeating a champion that very few had the courage to face.
Britain’s newest world champion is now full of confidence and has called out Conor Benn for a fight.
On Sky Sports News, trainer Adam Booth shared the ongoing chats with promoter Eddie Hearn about the next move.
Booth stated: “We know that Conor Benn brings immense commercial value to the fight”.
“This is business not just a sport, Josh has got to secure his future”.
“I don’t believe that Conor would want that fight”.
“Champions don’t chase challengers, champions chase glory”.
Another name that Kelly wants is unified champion Xander Zayas.
Booth declared: “Xander Zayas for the three belts in the summer”.
“Eddie Hearn is the man to make that fight happen, 45,000 fans at Sunderland, a whole city of people will turn up at a football stadium”.
Xander Zayas defeated Abass Barou in Puerto Rico on the same night as Kelly’s last fight to become the unified light middleweight champion.
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