Josh Kelly
PBK
Bio
Josh "PBK" Kelly is the Sunderland-born IBF junior middleweight champion who finally turned a decade of GB Boxing pedigree into a world title at Newcastle Arena on January 31 2026, taking a majority decision twelve off Bakhram Murtazaliev in one of the best British championship nights of the modern era.
Kelly is a 2016 Olympian, a former British and European welterweight champion, and a slick, sharp, southpaw-foxing technician with the kind of feet British boxing rarely produces. The losses earlier in his career — David Avanesyan and a draw with Avanesyan in the rematch — sharpened him. He came up to 154 a complete fighter and he won the title on his second crack at it.
He is now waiting on the winner of the IBF eliminator between Murtazaliev and Brandon Adams, with a likely Q1 2027 mandatory. Make no mistake, Kelly will want to enjoy that belt for at least one voluntary first.