Josh Kelly v David Avanesyan

Not posted in a while... Well a very long time to be fair, however, I felt a compelled to post having just watched the Josh Kelly fight. I've watched a fair few fights over the years, however, this is one of the most bizarre.

Kelly won the First Round and was winning Round 2 comfortably after hurting Avanesyan, however, with 1:07 left in the 2nd round, an accidental Avanesyan elbow/forearm (it was hard to tell, but 100% deffo not a punch), bust open Kelly's head severely. I've watched thousands of fights and I've never seen the back of someone's head open up like this and he bled heavily from this for the rest of the fight.

What I found really bizarre was that this was barely mentioned by the Sky Commentary team or even Eddie Hearn after the fight. The fight clearly should have been stopped IMO as Kelly was losing a significant amount of blood from the wound and for me, it cllearly gave Avanesyan a huge advantage he had done nothing to earn. Just wondering if anybody else had any thoughts on the fight and/or if you saw it the same as me (or differently)?

Did open up a fair bit, but dont think the blood loss was as bad as it appeared: type of place and situation whereby id imagine the actual amount is minimal comparative to what we percieve to be seeing...

I certainly dont think it had any effect on the outcome of the fight. Josh Kelly got found wanting, a prediction a fair few thought may happen once he stepped up. Avanesyan was all wrong for PBK, high pressure fighter...rough and tough with the added caveat of mixing it at world level before. Kelly has been shown to struggle under pressure in periods of his earlier fights and once you start to move through levels you cant win on style alone...the phrase style over substance very much comes to mind with PBK.

I dont see him coming again in all honesty, gets caught to much, doesnt seem to have a gas tank & definitely lacking power.

One things for sure...its been a rough 6 months for Eddie Hearn and his stable who are dropping like flies from the "possible world champion" discussions.

For me, the whole fight and Kelly's demeanour changed massively directly after the incident. This could have been psychological, more than actual, however, I thought his performance was directly affected by this and personally, if I was bleeding consistently out of the back of my head, I would like to have it properly looked at and the referee never even gave Kelly this opportunity.

Agree it was an odd incident, but considering it was the back of the head I don't think it made much difference to the fight. Kelly was simply overmatched against the more experienced Russian. Kelly's jab unable to keep the Russian at bay for the first couple of rounds, so he decided to go toe-to-toe and slug it out...never going to end well for him considering the Russian had the greater power.

Wasn't a very good night for the home fighters. Charlton also got stopped, and Valenzuela beat Davis Jr. by a majority decision. That latter fight was filthy and disgracefully officiated. The Mexican Valenzuela got a points deduction for rabbit punching, while Davies Jr. was warned nearly a dozen times by the referee for rabbit/kidney punching/use of the head without so much as a point being taken. Feared the Mexican would get mugged off by the judges, thankfully he didn't, though they did make it closer than it appeared.

Johnny Fisher made a winning debut at HW, unsurprisingly. Might be one to keep an eye on - excellent reach, decent power, nice hand-speed. A few good tools to build on.

I've seen fighters lose much more blood in a fight and go on to win. You might not think it's right but it was right to let it continue. It depends on the fighter. Does he quit, go out fighting or pursue the win.

I saw haglar cut really bad against hearns, doctor had a look, fight continued, Haglar ended it the next round.

For me Kelly whilst very talented fights the wrong style for his attributes. Got far too involved exchanging punches way too soon and paid the price against a very good pressure fighter. The cut might have been a factor but this is not the first time this has happened and IMHO won't be the last unless he makes adjustments i.e. stop trying to be a highlight reel Roy Jones Jr. simply does not hit hard enough.

I knew Adam Smith's career was over when he made a mockery of Joe Joyce

Josh Kelly was exposed as very mediocre by that Ray Robinson fight a few years ago. Nothing more than a British level fighter.

Jeff Navarro wrote:Josh Kelly was exposed as very mediocre by that Ray Robinson fight a few years ago. Nothing more than a British level fighter.

Done like Warrington can dish it out but not comfortable taking it. Saw some good work from Kelly tbh but not confident of his future in the ring now

ONETWO2020 wrote:I've seen fighters lose much more blood in a fight and go on to win. You might not think it's right but it was right to let it continue. It depends on the fighter. Does he quit, go out fighting or pursue the win.

I saw haglar cut really bad against hearns, doctor had a look, fight continued, Haglar ended it the next round.

No one other than Richard Steele though Hagler was cut badly, in the middle of his forehead casued by a punch and not obscuring his eyesight. The Josh Kelly fight reminds me of Kevin Mitchell losing to Jorge Linares when a cut caused by a headbutt proved pivotal in turning the fight around.

Its one loss and if he learns from it then hopefully he can iron out some of the issues, it all depends if him and his team will sit down and critique it properly. Get a feeling there's been a bit too much smoke blown up his backside for quite a while.

As for the wound, they always look worse on your head as you bleed more from it but it's definitely not a stop the fight cut unless it's looking like he's been scalped.

Bad couple of weeks for the Brits and does make you wonder if maybe our fighters aren't putting as much work in during lockdown