I thought Josh Kelly was very disappointing in the David Avanesyan fight and the only way I think he beats Conor Benn now would be if it were a six round fight. A couple of months ago I would not have hesitated in picking Kelly over Benn but his vulnerabilities have been exposed and similar to David Price future opponents will just cover up for 4-5 rounds and then take it too him. Ironically, Josh Kelly would be better suited if he moved to Tony Simms gym for the simple fact his current stable of fighters all seem to have a really good engine in recent fights, especially Cheeseman.
Yeah LOL They'll be talking about Collazo fighting Thurman, Khan, Berto, Mosley and giving Ricky Hatton all sorts of problems.. But they'll not mention Collazo is 40, lost 8 times, hasn't fought since 2019 and fought Hatton 15 years ago. It's the standard Matchroom spin.
Would be a cracking fight. Kelly honestly impressed me massively in the aveyasan fight....for about 3 rounds. Then he fell apart far too easily. Maybe a weight issue. Frustrating because he looked like he had all the skill in the world...but if you cant hold it past 3 or 4 rounds...your pretty much done. Think he,d make it more difficult for benn than he did aveyasan tho.
Was about to write the exact same thing as your first and second paragraphs. The majority would strongly favour Benn to beat Kelly at this point, and that is as a result of their last fights. Prior to that I didn’t see anyone picking Benn to beat Kelly. Kelly won’t take the Benn fight next. He has to move up in weight. He can’t get in the ring again that weight drained and with that little in the tank, because everyone will now try and take him to the later rounds and then pour it on.
Meerkat parents pull the sting off the scorpions they catch so that their young can learn to catch them without getting hurt...this is what Hearn has been doing. I don't believe Hearn will put him in with anyone who can remotely punch just yet, I think he's worried his PPV investment could get bingo'd. The biggest puncher Benn has been in with up to now is arguably Vargas who has a 35% KO ratio and hasn't stopped anyone in 4 years. Expect the ghost of a former world champion next.
I think the weight really affects Kelly’s gas tank, and he simply can’t do a long contest whilst he’s at WW which involves any sort of proper physical exertion. For me he was winning really well against Ava in the first 4 rounds or so, but because of the pressure Ava put on him he was clearly knackered and that would be the same story with Benn if he tried out boxing him. Kelly’s only chance with Benn would be a head on fire fight that’s over in 4 rounds, whoever lands first sort of thing. Kelly isn’t a great finisher either so you’d fancy Benn. I think PBK needs to rebuild at 154.
If Conor Benn can mock Kelly for losing to Ava it's balls on the table time and he should go in with him, I don't think he would though, I think he knows Ava is too much of a risk.
I'm not even sure that Kelly out boxes Benn as Benn has a very good stiff and accurate jab that could well keep Kelly off balance. I think Benn hits at least as hard as Kelly and seems to have a better gas tank. I'm not overrating Benn either, I've just never been sold on Kelly, though I fancied him to do better against Avenesyan than he did as Ava is pretty basic although pretty effective. If they were to fight next, Benn definately wins as Kelly is likely damaged goods without a few confidence builders plus, Kelly needs to decide which weight he's fighting at and make a real effort to sort out his fitness and conditioning or he's going nowhere.
Kelly's last fight will be a massive blow to his ego. I don't think we'll see him fight anyone dangerous for a while, he will be matched carefully against someone and try to rebuild, and to be honest, I think he really needs to try another trainer, Booth and him are not a good match. Benn is too dangerous for Kelly right now.
