Kelly outpoints Murtazaliev to win maiden world title

Britain’s Josh Kelly put on a slick and brave performance to beat Bakhram Murtazaliev and win the IBF light-middleweight title by majority decision in Newcastle.

It was a trademark Kelly display as he danced around the ring, displaying devastating speed and high ring IQ – knowing when to engage and when to get on his heels.

Both fighters hit the canvas with Murtazaliev going down in the fourth and Kelly in the ninth. The Briton went down a further two times late in the fight, but both were ruled as slips.

Two judges scored the bout 115-111 and 114-113 in Kelly’s favour with the other having it down as a 113-113 draw.

Murtazaliev looked to have got to grips with Kelly’s evasive style in the latter rounds, but the home fighter rallied in the last three minutes to end strongly.

Kelly, who becomes Sunderland’s first world champion, sprinted to embrace trainer Adam Booth when the result was announced before grabbing the belt and raising it up to the 4,000-strong crowd.

“It feels like a dream. I envisioned this,” Kelly told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I was praying a couple of days ago, envisioned the fight, and I had deja vu of the knockdown in the tenth round.

Kelly takes the UK’s tally of reigning male world champions to six, alongside heavyweight Fabio Wardley, welterweight Lewis Crocker, super-featherweight Jazza Dickens, featherweight Nick Ball and light-welterweight Dalton Smith.

The 31-year-old extends his winning streak to eight.

Earlier in the night, Elif Nur Turhan retained her IBF lightweight title with a split-decision win against Taylah Gentzen.

Knockout artist Murtazaliev likes to walk his opponents down and strike with heavy shots but Kelly’s game plan worked to a tee, using the outer reaches of the ring to be elusive and choosing the right moments to launch his own attacks.

Kelly was roared into arena and looked relaxed as he walked to the ring – that calm aura remained once the first bell rang and Kelly’s hand speed immediately looked like it could give him the edge.

Trainer Adam Booth urged Kelly to “be patient” late in the second before he landed a bruising left hook to earn the champion’s respect.

The 2016 Olympian grew in confidence with each round as it became clearer that his game plan of staying on the outside and carefully choosing when to engage was working.

A stabbing left sent Murtazaliev down in the fourth and Kelly offered a cheeky wink to his opponent as he climbed back up off the canvas.

Murtazaliev was unbeaten in 23 previous fights but a 16-month stint outside the ring appeared to have a detrimental impact as he struggled to get to grips with Kelly.

With heavy marking under his right eye, Murtazaliev began to settle in the second half of the fight and a clean left sent Kelly down in the ninth.

But cheers of “there’s only one Josh Kelly” seemed to give the challenger a second wind and he ended the contest on the front foot with flashy work.

He hit the deck again in the 12th round, but the referee ruled it a slip and Kelly rallied to end the strongest at the final bell.

Turhan’s first defence of her IBF lightweight title was a scrappy affair as she struggled to find a home with her trademark heavy-hands.

The Turkish fighter ended a dream 2025 with a third successive knockout win to claim the IBF title in Monaco eight weeks ago, but was unable to seal another stoppage as Gentzen spent large periods of the bout skirting around the outside.

Gentzen, a serving member in the Australian army, began to tire in round five and sustained a cut to her right cheek when a looping left landed flush.

Fighting for just the third time outside Australia, Gentzen found a second wind in the latter rounds and looked sharper with her jab, but it was not enough to win over two of the three judges.

Turhan, who was wearing a gold outfit befitting her champion status, had enough energy left to sprint around the ring celebrating with a Turkish flag after extending her perfect record to 13 victories.

The 30-year-old can now start looking towards unifying the lightweight division.