Nick ParkinsonJan 27, 2026, 05:10 AM ET

CloseReports on boxing for ESPN.com and has been covering British boxing for over 25 years.Josh Kelly will fight for a world title against Bakhram Murtazaliev Getty

Josh Kelly believes Bakhram Murtazaliev’s fearsome knockout record will inspire him to pull off an upset win in Saturday’s world title fight.

Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs) challenges the Russian for his IBF junior middleweight title at the Newcastle Arena after registering seven straight wins since David Avanesyan stopped him at welterweight in 2021.

Despite that form and home advantage in the northeast of England, Kelly is still viewed as the underdog by bookmakers, pundits and fans.

But Kelly, 31, from Sunderland, insists he prefers to face big hitters like Murtazaliev.

“I’m calling it beauty and the beast,” Kelly told ESPN.

“I think he’s going to be shocked by my punch power. I’ve got some power now I’ve moved up to 154 pounds. I feel I could be laying him on his back a few times if he’s not careful.

“I’m not overly concerned about his punch power, I’m more wary of fighting great boxers because they are a harder puzzle to solve. I’ve never really been bothered by big punchers, in fact fighting big punchers switches me on more.

“I’ve really developed my power and speed and I know he’s got hard punches so I can’t switch off for 12 rounds.”

‘People come together up here for the boxing’Getty

Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs), from Chechnya, ends 15 months out of the ring when he makes a second title defence after stopping Jack Culcay and Tim Tszyu in his last two fights.

Kelly, who has carefully studied those two fights to ensure he does not make the same mistakes as Tszyu and Culcay, admits he must avoid getting swept along by what will be a fervent home support.

“Tszyu brings sharp hands and punches well but he had zero head movement against Murtazaliev, so it came down to who caught who first,” Kelly told ESPN.

“It was not a thinking fight. I took more out of his fight vs. Culcay. I’ve seen a few things I can take advantage of.

“I’ve had some of my best performances in the northeast, people come together up here for the boxing, it’s not like the football rivalry [Kelly is a fan and former youth academy player of English Premier League side Sunderland, local rivals of Newcastle United].

“I will soak up the energy from the crowd, but I can’t fight with the crowd, I know that. I need to keep myself composed and clinically go about my business. Once I land my punches, I need to remain on the plan.”

Josh Kelly wants to ‘influence people’s lives’Getty

Stepping up a weight class has been a big factor in Kelly’s run of good form, as well as getting over his problems with hypochondria (an anxiety about falling ill).

“I was basically taking a stone off on the morning of the weigh-in at welterweight,” Kelly told ESPN.

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“It gets harder to do that as you get older. I also had issues with hypochondria which was weighing heavy on me.

“When I watch the Avanesyan fight back, I look like a shell of a man. It was the right time to have that defeat, and there’s a big lesson and you take the positives out of it.

“I’ve built myself back up the right way and it’s great if people judge me by that performance still, and if they take confidence from it, because I’m a totally different fighter now.

“The hypochondria is all in the past, my mindset has changed, and I’ve had people help me with it. When I look back on my career and think what did I enjoy most, I will realise that I was stressing about things that didn’t really matter. No one cares about Crawford vs. Canelo now, it’s in the past.

“This fight is career-defining for me but I really want to do is influence people’s lives. I’ve had people come up to me and they have been inspired by me talking about these things. There’s a bigger purpose than boxing.”