Kelly: one fight away from very big things

Ryan Kelly…defends his Commonwealth silver belt next month

RYAN Kelly currently resides in boxing’s waiting room – a place where the wait can be long and frustrating.

Chelmsley Wood’s Commonwealth middleweight silver champ is so close to big things, he and trainer John Costello can smell it.

The pair are simply waiting for the last barrier to be cleared, the final door to be unlocked.

His forthcoming title defence against Gerome Warburton, at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse on June 14, is potentially the only remaining obstacle between Kelly and a major title fight.

It was hoped current full Commonwealth champ Hamzah Sheeraz would vacate as he marches towards world honours.

If that happened, Ryan and Colwyn Bay’s Warburton could’ve fought for the vacant Commonwealth title. Kelly is, after all, the next mandatory challenger.

If he’d won the belt, Kelly would then be in line to fight for the British title.

That’s the logical chain of events.

But Sheeraz has not yet relinquished his Commonwealth crown, and I’m not sure why. A defence of the belt is probably the last thing on his mind, the last thing he needs.

Instead, Kelly faces what looks, on paper, a tricky defence of his silver title. Southpaw Warburton has lost only one of 16 contests and outpointed an undefeated, 16-0, boxer last time out.

It’s going to be hard, but 30-year-old Kelly cannot look beyond him.

“We can’t just wait for the opportunities,” said Costello. “We can’t just sit there doing nothing. We were asked if we would defend the Commonwealth silver and, with everything that was put with it, we agreed. Ryan has to keep busy.

“Warburton doesn’t look a bad lad, he’s nobody’s fool. He’s a southpaw, we’ll take him seriously, I don’t think he’s a big puncher.”

Kelly is coming off an absolute barnstormer against unknown Ioan Alexandru Lutic who fought like a man possessed. In the March war, Lutic was dropped in the fifth, Kelly in the sixth before prevailing on points.

That blood and bruises encounter illustrates the tightrope Kelly walks. One slip could shatter his dreams.

“I knew he was going to tough,” Costello said of Lutic. “I told Ryan, ‘you won’t have to go looking for this kid’.

“Ryan hurt his left hand early in the contest and that took away a little bit of fizz.

“Ryan was holding his feet when he should not have been holding his feet. We had a situation where Ryan stood there with his hands up rather than moving his feet. That’s something we’ve been working on.”

“It was happening and Ryan got involved in a slugfest. He enjoys it, but I’ve told him I don’t enjoy it. I’ve told him, ‘you have to be a little bit more patient’.”

Costello’s belief in his fighter is absolute.

“He has got it all,” he told me. “I believe in Ryan. The better the opponent, the better he performs. Ask anyone at (Kelly’s promoters) BCB – they all know what Ryan is capable of. The kid lives like a professional now, he doesn’t play at the game.

“I’ve got no doubt Ryan has the beating of anyone put in front of him.”

If all goes to plan, Kelly could find himself facing the winner of July’s rematch between British champ Nathan Heaney and Brad Pauls. It’s a mouthwatering prospect: Heaney is a BCB stablemate while Kelly looked very unlucky to drop a controversial split decision to Pauls.

“Nathan Heaney is a lovely lad,” said Costello, “but he’s got something we want. It’s business.”