Josh Kelly brutally exposed- what does he need to do next?

Josh Kelly gasses after an handful of rounds so he should definitely stay away from Benn. Avanesyan didn't bring anything amazing to the table last Saturday. He didn't adapt...he just carried on doing the same thing knowing that Kelly would eventually gas and unravel. He doesn't have the power to stop an opponent early so every half decent fighter would fancy their chances now.

He needs to go to a new trainer and move up in weight imo.

 

The size difference between Benn and Kelly would be hugely in Kellys favour!

 

I don’t think Kelly was exposed. He ran into a buzzsaw of a fighter. Kelly was hyped, but had never stepped up. If anything, it was a great learning fight. He didn’t come out beaten to a pulp and in my opinion, has the adaptability to make the adjustments when back in a hard fight. You can’t learn in the gym what he learnt on Saturday night, priceless. He’s been in there now with a relentless opponent who beat him. I am sure he will watch it back and learn.
I enjoy Hearns attitude to match making. It’s great for the fans. I would sooner see a prospect come unstuck early, and see a great fight, rather than watch a one sided journey to a belt.

 

Anybody heard from Adam Booth yet? No Kooogan interview?


Colour me shocked.

 

If he had lost in 2018 instead of pulling out on the day of the fight you would have had much more of a point.
He was an outstanding amateur and looked a great prospect when he turned pro. In a few days he turns 27. Is he really improving under Booth?

 

Fear not. Penfold and Davison have it covered. We just need Company Nelson to tell us that Connor Benn beats Crawford and Spence........

 

Wouldn't say he was "brutally exposed",this is the issue with boxing,kid takes a loss and he was "brutally exposed",I get it's all subjective and all opinion,but if you let the flashiness and all the showy stuff cloud your judgement of what level he's at all along then you've jumped the gun

You need to bring it if you're going to box that way,and at all levels. Kelly has clearly been surrounded by a team who have inflated his ego an told him how great he is,rather than maybe seeing and identifying issues that will see him lacking as he climbs the levels

This has shown he needs to re-evaluate,and it will also tell us what he's made of - will he regain his confidence,go again,and come back better,or will he stay beat mentally and take L after L?

Can't be too quick to write fellas off folks,boxings a tough sport,on many levels,if it was easy everyone would do it,I don't overly rate Kelly tbh,but be looking to see what his next moves are from here - he was class in defeat so that's a good sign imo

 

He does look huge at Welter and agree that a move up to 154 may be a wise decision - could improve his engine and the pop in his shots that cutting down to 147 is taking away from him.

Benn is improving at a rate of knots but as of right now there is a big difference between fighting Avanasyen and Benn lol

 

Also think brutally exposed is harsh. Main thing lacking was the stamina to fight the style he was fighting, likewise if he had power...

He looks huge at the weight and the way he was pushing Avanesyan back with ease demonstrates that. Man handling him at times. But ultimately it was naive as it just tired him out more.

I don’t know if it’s the weight exacerbating stamina issues but he just ran out of gas. He was winning the fight (albeit at the point of towel coming in he was just a punchbag).

He’s got ability he just can’t fight at that pace for 6 rounds let alone 12.

For me he needs to shed some timber or go up a weight, so that he can make weight more comfortably.

 

I agree bud, big difference between them two in levels...even between Kelly and Benn but he can only fight for a handful of rounds before gassing so he has the potential to unravel even against an inferior fighter. Imo Robinson was an inferior fighter but he arguably lost that fight.

I rate Kelly, he could go far but he needs an overhaul fundamentally or he will go down as another classy amateur who couldn't cut it in the pros.

 

Has Kelly spoke since the defeat? Will be interesting to hear his side and see if he agrees with what all of us on here are saying.he's got loads of flaws but the fitness/stamina issue can be worked on surely.he shouldn't be blowing out his arse after 2 rounds.

 

Like Haye, Kelly has developed huge "shoulder boulder" traps. A body building pal of mine informed me that this requires a lot of supplements to achieve.
Perhaps Kelly needs to revert to a more old school boxing training regime.

 

I agree with the style you suggest.
I think technically he’s good enough to fight in the pocket.
His problems the other night started when he started exchanging, he ended up fighting his opponents fight.
Also both mentally and physically I don’t think they have him as a 12 round fighter. His lack of power means stepping up he’ll likely always have to be in those fights.
Whether he’s tough enough all round to make those adjustments I’m not sure.

 

Good post - I agree with your points.

I also think in the opening few rounds he does a lot of unnecessary sharp movements that he simply doesn't need to do so early on in the fight and that can only zap your energy.

He's continually doing fancy angle switches, dipping in and out of range which are all superb to watch and very easy on the eye but not exactly economical.

I think he needs to realise where and when to be doing that. All a learning curve however.

 

needs to go back to 6round fights.