Josh Kelly put on a magnificent display of boxing by beating Troy Williamson on Saturday night in Newcastle.
The Sunderland man dominated and outclassed his capable opponent to win the British super welterweight title in a fight many predicted he would lose.
Kelly was highly rated when he first turned pro.
The 28-year-old boxed for Team GB at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and was signed by Eddie Hearn to start his career.
Kelly went 9-0 before drawing with Ray Robinson in an intensive fight in 2019 that didn’t go to plan.
A year and a half later, he made his next big move against David Avanesyan at the start of 2021, but this time he took off in earnest.
The European welterweight champion from Russia knocked out the Briton and stopped him in the sixth round.
After a long absence from the ring, Kelly returned with a new promoter at a new weight in June of that year.
As a super welterweight guided by Kalle Sauerland at Wasserman Boxing, the 28-year-old has rebuilt himself with two wins over lesser opposition.
Those victories set him up for a British title on Friday night against the undefeated Williamson, who had already impressed in a big victory over Ted Cheeseman to clinch the belt.
Finally, Kelly produced a coming of age performance as he came out and topped Williamson for a wide unanimous decision triumph.
Reading the scorecards, he was declared the winner with scores of 118-110, 119-109, 119-111.
🗣️ “He’s boxing like a SUPERSTAR tonight”@JOSHPBK gets the crowd moving at the end of the seventh round 🥊@SauerlandBros | @WassermanBoxing | @WilliamHill | #WilliamsonKelly pic.twitter.com/mUy6sQw61A
– Channel 5 Sport (@Channel5Sport) December 2, 2022
In the seventh round, Kelly dodged a series of punches from Williamson.
He activated the style, sliding blow after blow to show he was on top of his opponent.
Kelly ended the sequence by dancing as the bell rang.
It really was a great performance from start to finish.