Troy Williamson vs. Josh Kelly & Lyndon Arthur vs. Joel McIntyre RBR.

I was banned for a while for silly reasons but I am back now.

I watched the fight and Kelly was really impressive. I heard he might take a defence against Sam Eggington before stepping up the levels again. A lot of people were critical of his shape at the weigh-in but I don't think the weights were taken live so he had probably rehydrated a fair bit before stepping onto the scales infront of the public.

It was a good show on Channel 5. They have had some decent headline fights under Wasserman so far also including Bentley Udofia.

 

Great domestic match up, always good to see fights like this on Channel 5 too.

I like Josh Kelly and appreciate his talent, even though he can be one of the most frustrating boxers to watch and sometimes the way he fights leaves me scratching my head. You can't fight in little 15-20 second bursts of activity when you have such limited power. You also don't walk around the ring with your hands down by your waist or stay in the corner when you don't have the 'equalizer' of knock out punch coming off the ropes.

The problem I have with the performance was that it was basically the same Josh Kelly we have seen in every other fight, but at 154 and better hydrated. That's not enough of a change to really progress and go to the next level.

I also strongly disagree with the 'too big for 147' school of thought. This is the textbook, lazy answer when a fighter loses, it's the easy solution, just blame the weight, move up and let's take out chances at a higher weight.

Frame, height, age, stage of career he is NOT too big for 147. Too big and can't make the weight are two different things. Josh could no longer make the weight safely and perform, because he would blow up in weight massively between fights. He also spent 18 months out of the ring and did not look after himself at all. The majority of the too big for 147 talk stems from what has been happening outside of the ring, and not inside it. At his age, and at the stage he is at, he SHOULD be able to make 147 safely at least for the short-mid term.

Putting that to one side, I hope he stays active, stays in the gym and is in some entertaining fights. He showed us how good his hand speed and reflexes are last night, showed some strength too, but unless he makes bigger changes or is exceptionally lucky in who he fights I don't see him doing anything at world level.

 

Got to say well done to kelly, not how i thought it would go. Thought it would for first half but then he would unravel. Maybe i overestimated troy on only watching a couple of times, and cmparing him to an avenysan.

Thought the some of the commentary, comments after etc was a little over the top, hes going places, on to world class etc. Some of the rounds it was just check hook hold on, pot shot hold on, and he doesnt do that to many as he moves up. Still got to give him credit for this as many, me included, thought he'd unravel