Josh Kelly is ready to dance on TV. Not that he might get any invites to Strictly with the sort of dancing he performs.
The way ‘Pretty Boy’ moves you’d say he’d be a contender on BBC 1’s iconic show, but it’s Channel 5 where the 31-year-old will be strutting his stuff.
Kelly is back on free-to-air television on Friday night when he faces Romanian hard-case Flavius Biea in Newcastle on the Wasserman event.
“Boxing is like a violent dance, or an art with violence,” said the Sunderland star, who is unbeaten in over four years since his transfer tp Wasserman and boasts a record of 16-1-1 overall.
“I’m just looking to go in and enjoy myself.
“I can sit and fight with him if I want, because I can punch a lot harder than people think.
“Or I can box and move and he’ll not be able to touch me all night.”
Biea’s approach will be the more intriguing of the two combatants – with Kelly we are almost certain to be treated to a bit of everything.
Biea’s career has largely been spent on the mainland of Europe where he has built a very, very respectable record of 24-1. Like Kelly, half of his wins have arrived early.
That was the case in his last outing and his best to date when he lifted the WBC Latino Light-middleweight belt when Argentina’s Jonathan Eniz retired in seven one-sided rounds.
It demonstrated that at 36, as he was then, his ambition was strong.
He has boxed only once in the UK, a somewhat low key six-rounder at the York Hall back in 2019.
His second visit to our shores opens up fascinating possibilities, should Biea take the victory.
Kelly is rated at four in both the IBF and WBO lists and 11 with the WBC so should there be a shock at the Utilita Arena then the grizzled warrior from Timosuara would get into areas he’d never have dreamed of.
“These guys are the hardest fights,” explained Kelly in a special behind-the-scenes interview with The Stomping Ground.
“This is their world title fight.
“I’m expecting a tough fight, but I believe I’ll be levels above.
“He can come and be the best he wants to be, but he’s not going to get near me.”
Kelly’s last excursion in the North-East brought a stoppage win when a peach of an uppercut destroyed Placido Ramirez.
To watch the full The Stomping Ground interview with Josh Kelly click here.
But it’s not something he is actively seeking here.
“I feel more spiteful this time around than I’ve ever been,” the Adam Booth-coached boxer told reporter Oscar Bevis. “But I never look for that for the sake of it. If it comes it comes.”
Wasserman’s event features some of the North-East’s premier talent with Newcastle’s Morpeth-born southpaw Matt McCallum having a crack at one of the promoter’s fast-rising talents, Niall Brown, over eight rounds.
Alnwick’s Cyrus Pattinson also has a domestic duel, facing Joe Garside, from Halifax, while undefeated Darlington prospect Ben Marksby has an England v Argentina contest against Nicola Blanco. Both bouts are over eight.
Gateshead’s Dan Toward, a Channel 5 favourite, tackles Connor Goulding over six rounds, the same distance for exciting new Newcastle boxer Lee Rogers against Charles Tondo, from Tanzania.
Words: Roy Kelly Picture: Wasserman Boxing
