Murtazaliev vs Kelly: Britain’s Josh Kelly wins IBF light-middleweight title

England’s Josh Kelly produced a stylish and courageous performance to defeat Bakhram Murtazaliev by majority decision in Newcastle to win the IBF light-middleweight title.

This was Kelly’s signature display as she danced around the ring, displaying blistering speed and high ring IQ, knowing when to step in and when to go after it.

Both fighters hit the canvas, with Murtazaliev falling in the fourth and Kelly falling in the ninth. The Briton was beaten twice more late in the fight, but both were judged to be slips.

Two judges scored the bout 115-111 and 114-113 in Kelly’s favor, while the other scored it a draw 113-113.

Murtazaliev appeared to be able to cope with Kelly’s evasive style in the final rounds, but the home fighter recovered in the final three minutes to finish the bout strongly.

Kelly, Sunderland’s first world champion, rushed to embrace coach Adam Booth when the result was announced and then took the belt and held it out in front of a crowd of 4,000.

“This feels like a dream. I dreamed this,” Kelly told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“A few days ago I was praying, dreaming about the fight and had deja vu about the tenth round knockout.

“I needed to concentrate; I feel overwhelmed. I need to go backstage for a second time to collect myself. I’m mentally exhausted.”

Kelly joins heavyweight Fabio Wardley, welterweight Lewis Crocker, super featherweight Jazza Dickens, featherweight Nick Ball and lightweight Dalton Smith, taking Britain’s tally of reigning men’s world champions to six.

The 31-year-old football player increased his winning streak to 8.

Earlier in the night, Elif Nur Turhan defeated Taylah Gentzen and retained her IBF lightweight title.

One of the referees evaluated the score as 97-93 for Australian Gentzen, and the other two cards evaluated the score as 98-92 and 96-94 in favor of the champion.