Josh “Pretty Boy” Kelly insists a single-digit golf handicap and a fresh mindset coach have done what years of hype could not - steady his head before the biggest push of his career. On Friday in Newcastle he meets Romania’s Flavius Biea, a man unbeaten since 2017; win that and the 31-year-old believes he is finally ready for the division’s sharks at 154 pounds.
“When I was boiling down to welterweight I was still a kid, stuck between weights and overthinking everything,” Kelly said this week. “Golf forces me to switch off, boxing forces me to focus - together they’re the best medicine.”
Kelly’s lone defeat, a 2021 stoppage by David Avanesyan, triggered hard changes. He moved up in weight, brought in mindset specialist Steven Green and doubled down with trainer Adam Booth, the pair bonding over early-morning rounds on northern fairways.
“We’ve shared the lows as much as the highs, and that’s why Adam’s more family than coach now,” Kelly explained. “I used to fret about every opinion. Now I realise most fights are forgotten in a week, so why stress? I train, I fight, the result takes care of itself.”
That laissez-faire tone masks serious ambition. Kelly says the new division has filled out his frame and sharpened his power; he wants names like Sebastian Fundora or Tim Tszyu within twelve months. First comes Biea, a tidy technician who, Kelly warns, will treat Friday “like his world-title fight.” Booth has programmed a camp as if Biea were Golovkin, and Kelly swears the discipline of golf has spilled into his ring craft: fewer wasted punches, more patient traps.
Critics wonder whether the silky reflexes that once dazzled highlight reels will fade now that Kelly is in his thirties. The Sunderland native shrugs: “I was a late maturer. When the speed goes, I’ll know and I’ll adapt. Right now I feel stronger, clearer and happier than ever.” If those fairway zen sessions translate under the arena lights, Friday could mark the moment Josh Kelly finally swings into the world-class conversation he was tipped for back in Rio 2016.
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