BoxRec

The concern for me is the lack of serious competition Kelly has had since his failed European title challenge.

I would think you need to be not only razor sharp to defeat Murtazaliev, but also fairly battle-hardened in world class.

Hopefully Josh puts it altogether on the night

If Josh keeps his head, he'll win the fight. If he doesn't, he won't.

Definitely a lot of unknowns.

Murtazaliev looked top notch against Tszyu but then he got beaten up by Fundora next time out. That's the Russians only outing in over 20 months & he's just turned 33 - not old by todays standards but he's only had two fights since turning 30.

Kelly has been a bit of a show pony. Looks great against the lower leagues but nowhere near tough enough when he moved up. But he's matured now although does he have the strength - AND stamina - keep Murta off him for 12 rounds.

Is Kelly better than Culcay?

I think he'll have his moment but get beaten down to an exhausted stoppage somewhere after the 8th.

I really really hope I'm wrong though.

keithmoonhangover wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 11:01 If Josh keeps his head, he'll win the fight. If he doesn't, he won't.

I think the biggest challenge for Kelly will be to maintain razor-sharp focus for all three minutes of each and every round, working his jab and constantly moving. If he can do that - and that's a big if - he'll cause problems for Murtazaliev, but if he loses focus or tries to trade with him, bad things will happen. Another plus he's got on his side is that the Russian hasn't fought in more than 15 months, so his timing will likely be off, and Kelly will have to work smartly to exploit that.

Kelly's hope is that this guy is not as good as his reputation.

He destroyed Tsyu but I haven't seen too much of him otherwise. Maybe that win flattered him. Kelly's team might have seen something?

If he is as good as he looked against Tsyu then Kelly's is in for a world of pain

forcefraser wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 15:54 Kelly's hope is that this guy is not as good as his reputation.

He destroyed Tsyu but I haven't seen too much of him otherwise. Maybe that win flattered him. Kelly's team might have seen something?

If he is as good as he looked against Tsyu then Kelly's is in for a world of pain

Yeah, I'm intrigued. is this indicative of boxers often being frozen out of the big time if the face/nationality doesn't fit, or not the right connections, and he finally made it despite all this, or was it just a bad match up for Tsyu and he's not all that?

golden_labrador wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 16:12

forcefraser wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 15:54 Kelly's hope is that this guy is not as good as his reputation.

He destroyed Tsyu but I haven't seen too much of him otherwise. Maybe that win flattered him. Kelly's team might have seen something?

If he is as good as he looked against Tsyu then Kelly's is in for a world of pain

Yeah, I'm intrigued. is this indicative of boxers often being frozen out of the big time if the face/nationality doesn't fit, or not the right connections, and he finally made it despite all this, or was it just a bad match up for Tsyu and he's not all that?

Kelly unravelled last time he met a tough Eastern European

golden_labrador wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 16:12

forcefraser wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 15:54 Kelly's hope is that this guy is not as good as his reputation.

He destroyed Tsyu but I haven't seen too much of him otherwise. Maybe that win flattered him. Kelly's team might have seen something?

If he is as good as he looked against Tsyu then Kelly's is in for a world of pain

Yeah, I'm intrigued. is this indicative of boxers often being frozen out of the big time if the face/nationality doesn't fit, or not the right connections, and he finally made it despite all this, or was it just a bad match up for Tsyu and he's not all that?

Honestly I don't think that's it at all. GGG fought 3, 4 or 5 times a year after destroying Proksa & he was beloved. You have to keep yourself in the spotlight & force the issue. Murtazaliev hasn't done that at all. Bad management, bad luck or just being lackadaisical, I do not know but he's wasted a lot of his prime.

Would like to Kelly win but surely Murtazaliev drags him in deep waters and stops him at some point

Taansend wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 17:41

golden_labrador wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 16:12

forcefraser wrote: ↑26 Jan 2026, 15:54 Kelly's hope is that this guy is not as good as his reputation.

He destroyed Tsyu but I haven't seen too much of him otherwise. Maybe that win flattered him. Kelly's team might have seen something?

If he is as good as he looked against Tsyu then Kelly's is in for a world of pain

Yeah, I'm intrigued. is this indicative of boxers often being frozen out of the big time if the face/nationality doesn't fit, or not the right connections, and he finally made it despite all this, or was it just a bad match up for Tsyu and he's not all that?

Honestly I don't think that's it at all. GGG fought 3, 4 or 5 times a year after destroying Proksa & he was beloved. You have to keep yourself in the spotlight & force the issue. Murtazaliev hasn't done that at all. Bad management, bad luck or just being lackadaisical, I do not know but he's wasted a lot of his prime.

Don't know who's responsible for not getting him fights, but I certainly would have liked to see him in the ring more often, even if it was against lower level competition. I'm sure what he did to Tszyu made him a high-risk, low-reward kind of fighter, even with the IBF title.

GGG fought often but has been criticized by some for taking on his share of second-tier fighters. However, I don't buy that criticism because boxers can only fight those who are willing to get into the ring with them.

I've never heard that criticism but I'm sure there's someone on the internet who said something.

General feeling is Josh is going to get walloped on Saturday night. But a couple of things: booth is quite canny when it comes to picking the right fight sometimes, and this perhaps is one of them? It’s easy to imagine Josh starting well because he looks a million dollars sometimes, and then you think the Russian is going to be coming on to grind him down, because we’ve seen it happen to JK before and it’s hard to forget.

But the same thing happened to Willy Hutchinson, when he was unbeaten, and he certainly turned things around big time. Fuelled by the memory of that humbling loss.

Murtazaliev looks drained

Christ alive, Murt looks like he’s been dead two weeks

Is Kelly about to become world champion

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑29 Jan 2026, 11:49

Is Kelly about to become world champion

Yes, sir. Ha'way!!!!!!!

Really looking forward to this.
Radio for me unfortunately

bak looks the same as normal from what i can see , hes got that sunken in, lined hard man face. same thing going when he iced timmeh, looked like he got holes in his face

maybe josh is just so amazingly sexy he makes it seem worse

id be more worried for bak that he hasnt fought for like 16 months. although who knows, maybe he used that time to absolutely go wild on peds or something

its a fight kelly can win, and id suspect especially in the early rounds should do well. but he's gonna go through fire at some point i suspect and he's got to be a lot tougher than he was vs ava.

Bakhram Murtazaliev - 152.2lbs
Josh Kelly - 153.65lbs

I'm as guilty as the next person for making a big deal about Murtazaliev's inactivity, but it might not be as significant as I and others think.

Sure, the Russian has had no fights in more than 15 months and that bout against Tszyu in October of 2024 lasted less than three rounds. However, during that same time period, Kelly has had just one fight that went for all of two minutes, and prior to that his last bout was in September of 2024, which resulted in an extremely close 12-round majority decision over Davis.

So, during the past 15 and a half months, Murtazaliev has fought zero minutes in the ring, while Kelly has logged two minutes and three seconds. And, yes, Kelly did put in a full training camp for the Biea fight in June of last year and benefited from that, but as far as actual fight time in the ring, there's hardly any difference at all.

Had a good look at murtazaliev.

I'm confidently picking him to win by KO.

Can't see anything going but a KO loss for Kelly. Based on what I've seen of them both, Kelly doesn't have the stamina, punch or chin to keep this guy honest for 12 rounds.

Flump wrote: ↑30 Jan 2026, 14:34 Can't see anything going but a KO loss for Kelly. Based on what I've seen of them both, Kelly doesn't have the stamina, punch or chin to keep this guy honest for 12 rounds.

I look forward to proving you wrong Mr Flump.

I don't mean this as a diss but Murta looks like Abraham Lincolns simpleton child.

Lincoln


Murtazaliev

Ha good spot

Yeah, looking at the Russian swinging away with Tszyu, unfortunately for Josh he looks to have a cast iron chin. At least he did then…
Theyll be hoping Josh will be landing often and solid early on and maybe bust him up a bit ..cuts etc could be a huge difference.
His boxrec profile pic looks a lot different than he does now in that face off w Josh - looks like an extra in tales from the crypt - surely him talking about going down to 147 is pure bollocks.