A blow to his pride? Yes. A blow to his career? Emphatically not.
Josh Kelly saw his 100 per cent record as a professional ended when Ray Robinson held him to a draw in New York.
But the Sunderland boxer remains the WBA’s international welterweight champion and he remains adamant he belongs at the top level.
Italian judge, Guido Cavalleri, had Kelly winning 96-94 at Madison Square Garden, but the two American officials, Frank Lombardi and Waleska Roldan, both marked it 95-95 meaning it ended as a majority draw.
Naturally, all the talk today in the boxing world will be about another Joshua, Anthony Joshua, after he lost his four belts following Andy Ruiz’s seventh-round stoppage win in the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO championship upset.
Josh Kelly’s draw will provoke a variety of opinions and there was a lively debate on the Sky gantry between three former world champions, Tony Bellew, Carl Froch and Johnny Nelson.
But the opinions that count the most today are those of Kelly and trainer and mentor, Adam Booth. Surely, they don’t need to make any radical changes, they need to merely enhance this terrific talent.
They have taken a challenging route – ‘Pretty Boy’ has had FOUR title bouts inside his first 10 appearances, three against former world championship contestants.
And, it must be noted that the third defence of his WBA strap came a mere 40 days after doing 10 rounds with Przemyslaw Runowski in London.
So, in the eyes of punch-lines, Kelly deserves tremendous credit for his USA debut against a tough, experienced southpaw who, let’s not forget, drew with top-ranked welter Egidijus Kavaliauskas in his previous contest.
Did Kelly win last night? Probably, but the fact it played out as a draw is not the end of the world.
“I felt I won, definitely,” said Josh in an interview with IFL TV. “Ray is probably the gatekeeper to word level and I stepped up here and proved I can mix it at that level.
“I was disappointed at times [with the performance] but this was a big step up – Ray has just drawn with the world number one ranked boxer, Kavaliauskas.
“I still feel I belong at this level and this was my best learning fight to date. I’ll learn a lot from that and bring a lot more back to the table.”
Kelly got off to a lively start on his USA debut, scoring with some eye-catching work.
Hard work is something which seems to be ingrained in the 33-year-old American and the Philadelphian dug in and came back strongly in the middle rounds, though Kelly seemed to come back nicely towards the end.
The reaction when MC, David Diamante, delivered the verdict told its own story – Robinson was elated to have nicked a share and Kelly was gutted not to have scored a perfect 10 wins. However, coming ‘five minutes’ after his previous contest and against a top operator, this has to be viewed as a step forward for the gifted Wearsider.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Ed Mulholland/ Matchroom
