Kelly back at 11stone with help of science

Ryan Kelly…British title final eliminator. Pic: Manjit Narotra/BCB

IT is science – formidable science – that has guided Ryan Kelly’s surprise move back to the light-middle division.

Tests have been taken, equations calculated and formulas drawn-up before hid return to a weight class where the exciting Chelmsley Wood fighter once reigned as Midlands champ.

Ryan has been tempted to take the gamble by the offer of an 11st British title final eliminator with Leeds contender Ishmael Davis. The pair meet on Matchroom’s major April 19 show at Canon Medical Arena, Sheffield.

It is a decision that has not been taken lightly. The 31-year-old has travelled to Rainham, Essex, to be assessed and guided by one of the best nutritionists in the business. He’s concluded Kelly can shed the pounds safely and healthily.

“If I didn’t have the science behind me, there’s no way I would do it,” trainer John Costello admitted. “He (the nutritionist) said Ryan can make 154lbs (11st) without losing muscle. He even said at a push he could get Ryan down to 147 (10st 5lbs – welter), but it would be a risk.”

Costello has put his money where his mouth is when it comes to Kelly’s health and ability to perform at his very best. Cash will never compromise his boxer’s well-being.

Last September Kelly was offered a Riyadh Season bout with British champ Josh Kelly at only days notice. “The money was unbelievable – many times more than he’d been paid before,” Costello said.

The trainer turned it down.

“Six days notice!” he said. “Six weeks notice and we would’ve taken it. Ryan would’ve had to lose a lot of weight in a very short time, he would’ve entered the ring a fraction of himself.”

Instead, Ishmael Davis faced Josh Kelly and lost on a majority decision.

Ryan really has rolled the dice. He has stepped away – perhaps not permanently – from a middleweight division where he had established himself as a top contender. He looked dreadfully unlucky to drop a controversial decision to Brad Pauls, who went on to win the Lonsdale Belt.

In November he was beaten on a wafer-thin split decision by Kieron Conway for the Commonwealth middleweight crown.

Both contests could’ve been won beyond argument if Ryan had pressed his foot on the pedal, Costello maintains. That’s a flaw in Kelly’s boxing make-up: The man nicknamed “Ruthless” isn’t ruthless enough during a bout’s duration, he has a tendency to coast rounds.

Costello said: “Does it frustrate me? It drives me insane, because I know what he’s capable of. We’ve had the conversation, I’ve said, ‘you have so much more’. Against Kieron Conway, I thought he did enough, but he took his foot off the gas.

“That is what’s on his mind, that’ what’s made him so hungry – he knows he should’ve pressed his foot on the pedal more against Pauls and Conway. He trains tremendously hard, there is no one more dedicated. If anything, he does too much.”

In Davis, he faces a fighter who has tasted defeat only twice in 15 outings. But Ishmael is coming off a crushing setback. On December’s Fury-Usyk bill in Riyadh, big punching Ukrainian Serhii Bohachuk forced him to retire in six.

“I just think Ryan is going to be more hungry,” Costello said. “Ishmael has found his level, Ryan is yet to find his level. I don’t think Bohachuk is the tremendously strong puncher he is being made out to be.”

Costello added: “I’ve always believed in Ryan – and I’m not the only one.”

After the Conway fight, a lot of very good judges believe in him, too.