{"id":444605,"date":"2026-01-31T06:24:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/444605\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T06:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T06:24:26","slug":"i-dont-give-him-a-chance-dave-allen-predicts-murtazaliev-vs-josh-kelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/444605\/","title":{"rendered":"“I don’t give him a chance”: Dave Allen predicts Murtazaliev vs Josh Kelly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Allen has delivered an emphatic prediction for Josh Kelly<\/a>\u2019s first stab at world honours against IBF super-welterweight champion Bakhram Murtazaliev.<\/p>\n

The pair will square off at the Newcastle Arena on Saturday, with Murtazaliev entering his mandatory title defence on away soil.<\/p>\n

An 11th round finish over Jack Culcay in Germany saw the fearsome Russian claim his IBF strap in 2024, before defending it against Tim Tszyu later that year.<\/p>\n

This time, it was a far more destructive third-round stoppage victory<\/a> that only enhanced Murtazaliev\u2019s reputation as a tremendous knockout artist.<\/p>\n

With the 33-year-old having not fought for just over 15 months, though, many believe that Kelly has what it takes to upset the odds and emerge victorious.<\/p>\n

The Sunderland man\u2019s only professional defeat arrived against David Avanesyan<\/a> in 2021, when a lack of experience saw him fold under the non-stop pressure of his opponent.<\/p>\n

Since then, the 31-year-old has claimed notable points victories over the likes of Troy Williamson and Ishmael Davis, both of them at domestic level, and is yet to properly test himself against a world-class opponent at 154lbs.<\/p>\n

He will, however, do just that tomorrow evening, when British heavyweight Allen suspects that Murtazaliev\u2019s power will prove too much for \u2018Pretty Boy\u2019 Kelly.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his YouTube channel<\/a>, Allen finds it difficult to overlook what transpired in Kelly\u2019s outing against Avanesyan, which turned out to be his last fight at 147lbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMismatch is such a strong word, because Josh Kelly has the ability to make this a good fight for three or four rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just can\u2019t see a world where Josh Kelly goes 12 rounds with Murtazaliev. I can see him outboxing Murtazaliev for three or four rounds, but I can\u2019t see him making a dent in him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big Avanesyan fan, but a natural super-lightweight ground [Kelly] down and stopped him. Murtazaliev is twice as big as Avanesyan [and] hits twice as hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t give him [Kelly] a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not only the seek-and-destroy approach he brings to each fight, but also his relaxed style, which makes Murtazaliev a particularly dangerous puncher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Allen has delivered an emphatic prediction for Josh Kelly\u2019s first stab at world honours against IBF super-welterweight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-444605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}