Josh Kelly is in action at the Beacon of Light, Sunderland this Saturday night, as he aims to tick over and keep in the hunt for a world title shot in 2024. The hometown fighter takes on Placido Ramirez over a scheduled twelve at super welterweight. Kelly vs Ramirez is a final eliminator for the IBO bauble
DAZN televise Kelly vs Ramirez live, and Wasserman promote.
Kelly (14-1-1, 7KOs) is ranked number one with the WBO, and is high up in the other governing bodies’ lists after a recent good run of form. After a one-sided shock loss to David Avanesyan for the European welterweight title in February 2021, where Kelly was stopped in six rounds, he has re-surfaced at the weight above, starting with a fourth round stoppage of Peter Kramer in June last year.
After picking up a fringe title, Kelly then turned in a career-best performance in taking the British title from Troy Williamson in Newcastle, taking a wide win on the cards. He last saw action in July, winning nearly every session in defending his WBO International trinket against Gabriel Alberto Corzo.
Ramirez (24-3, 17KOs) is your typical, rugged Columbian, and he has rarely fought outside his homeland. He did venture to Albania last month in an alarming contest against Denis Nurja, which was ruled a no contest after fans stormed the ring and attacked Ramirez.
Credit: Dan Cooke
Prediction: Kelly won’t do anything careless to jeopardise a world title shot, and as long as he can negotiate a tricky first few rounds against the South American banger, he should ease past Ramirez on the cards.
6 rounders comprise the undercard
Tursynbay Kulakhmet (5-1, 4KOs) continues on the comeback trail after losing to Juan Carlos Abreu in seven in October 2021, and the middleweight can win early against Fouad El Massoudi (18-21-1, 2KOs).
Ben Marksby (8-0, 0KOs) should come through on the cards against Kurt Jackson (4-0, 0KOs) in their super lightweight meeting, and Andrei Dascalu (8-0, 2KOs) may need all six rounds to see off Angel Emilov (11-54-3, 7KOs) at super middleweight.
Welterweight prospect Travis Waters (4-0, 2KOs) can outscore Mykhalio Sovtus (5-29-1, KO2), while Tom Welland (1-0, 1KO) can remove Yuri Zanoli (3-12-1, 3KOs) from battle early on at super bantamweight. At super welterweight, Dan Toward (1-0, 1KO) can also win inside schedule against Nikolas Dzurnak (6-5-2, 5KOs).
