At the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England, Josh Kelly moved his record to 7-0 after scoring his fifth stoppage victory after Kris Georges corner retired him at the end of the seventh round. Kelly retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) International Welterweight Title with the victory.
George appeared to have hurt one or possibly both hands during the fight as he stopped using his right hand not very far into the fight and had a lower than usual work rate as he appeared to be favoring both hands at the end of the fight. He definitely presented problems for Kelly early in the fight as Kelly found him a hard target to hit flush despite having the quicker hands and great athleticism.
Georges best round was the fourth when he landed some very solid left hooks to the head of Kelly as he was gesturing and posturing with his hands down quite frequently but getting caught with good punches by George at times.
It was in the sixth and seventh rounds that Kelly really took over the fight as George was taking more punishment and looked slightly helpless at times due to having no right hand to throw and having to play as much defense as he possibly could.
Neither man was seriously hurt during the fight, but the stoppage was forced by Georges corner who no doubt knew that their man would be nearly helpless for the remainder of the bout.
On the same card Charlie Edwards moved his record to 13-1, while scoring his sixth knockout over Anthony Nelson to win the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) Continental Super Flyweight Title.
Edwards had a stellar performance overall as he scored two knockdowns in the second round; the first being a beauty of an uppercut that snapped Nelsons head violently and sunk him to the canvas while the second was a solar plexus shot. Nelson made it through the second round only to be knocked out in the third from a vicious right hand to the chin.
It was arguably Edwards best performance to date as he took out a solid opponent inside three rounds. His punches appeared to have a little more power on them than usual, which he has alluded to recently in a WBA interview, as he is still gaining experience and getting stronger all around at only 24 years old.
