David Avanesyan drops Josh Kelly twice and interrupts him on Friday

SSE Arena, Wembley – David Avanesyan beat Josh Kelly in six rounds to retain his European welterweight title and cast his name in the hat for a shot at the world title in the next 12 months.

For four rounds, Avanesyan was eliminated by the promising British fighter, but the further the rounds went, the closer the Russian got. In the sixth round, Kelly no longer had the strength to stay out of the way.

Avanesyan was always looking to play the long game, using his experience and strength to let Kelly explode. In the fifth round, however, he was getting Kelly to trade with him and was happy to receive Kelly’s best shots to hit some of his own.

At 26, Kelly has plenty of time to regroup. But, regardless of whether the training during the blockade had a negative effect on him, he still didn’t seem ready for that step.

Kelly had the best of the opening round, using her reflexes to catch Avanesyan on the few occasions when he ventured out of reach. At the start of the second, Kelly landed a combination of three punches that stopped Avanesyan in his path, but the Russian shrugged and was putting Kelly under pressure at the end of the round.

Kelly also had the advantage in the third, but was being made to work by Avanesyan, who was also passing with increasing regularity. Kelly’s face was starting to swell up, while he also had a cut on the back of his neck.

In the first two minutes of the fourth round, Kelly gave a master class, moving around the ring and punching Avanesyan. But after complaining about a clash of heads, Kelly’s work started to become uneven when Avanesyan approached and Kelly ended the round with an ugly cut above her right eye.

Things started to rock the Russian’s way in the fifth round, when Avanesyan started to get into Kelly’s face and the Sunderland boxer was forced to fight against the ropes. Kelly had some success when she decided to stay and negotiate, but he seemed open, too.

Kelly dominated at the beginning of the sixth, retreating, landing and then moving away. But Avanesyan was getting close. While Kelly forced Avanesyan back onto the ropes, Avanesyan landed three clubbing rights on the side of the head, creating a knockdown when the two gloves touched the carpet.

When he got up, Kelly looked tired. But there was no escape from Avanesyan. A right fell and Kelly’s legs began to betray him when he stumbled into the ring. Avanesyan was right about him, but the towel flew from Adam Booth when Kelly fell the second time. It ended at 2:15 of the sixth round.

“Two years,” shouted Neil Marsh, Avanesyan’s manager. He will feel vindicated after this match was canceled by a late notification in December 2019.

Avanesyan engaged in an exchange of insults with someone on the other side of the ring. Kelly sat on her stool, tired and weary.

The Russian has a three-fight deal with Matchroom and the win could easily push Avanesyan, the former interim WBA champion, back to world honors. He was already in the top ten of all four government agencies that participated in this.

For Kelly, there are lessons to be learned, but no shortcuts to be taken. He had been dragged into the Avanesyan fight and, at this stage, he just wasn’t ready for it.

The plan was for Kelly to face Conor Benn in the summer. It still looks like an interesting fight, although Benn may not see the good in it now, with no European title and Kelly’s reputation shaken.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer at BoxingScene. He was a boxing correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 – covering four Olympic Games and countless world title fights around the world. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications around the world since the 1980s.