By Scott Gilfoid: Welterweight prospect Josh Kelly (7-0, 5 KOs) will be fighting this Saturday night on November 10 against Argentinean Walter Fabian Castillo (13-2, 3 KOs) on the undercard of the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tony Bellew at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The fight card will be televised on Sky Box Office in the UK.
This is another learning fight for the young Kelly in being matched against Castillo. Kelly doesn’t need to worry about Castillo’s punching power, as he doesn’t have any to speak of. Kelly should be able to have his way with his over-matched opponent on Saturday night.
Castillo comes into the fight with Kelly having lost two out of his last three fights in losses to Leonardo Fabio Amitrano and Diego Ramirez. Castillo won his last fight in beating Pablo David Battista by a 3rd round knockout last September.
Kelly has recent victories over these fighters: Kris George, Carlos Molina, Jean Michel Hamilcaro and Jose Luis Zuniga. It would be nice to see what Kelly could do against a contender like Jose Benavidez, Jeff Horn, Jessie Vargas or Samuel Vargas. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that Kelly will be matched against any of those fighters anytime soon.
2016 Olympian Kelly continues his slow march up the ranks of the 147 lb weight division. Kelly’s promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t appear to be interested in giving the 24-year-old the express treatment that Olympians are frequently given by their management after a lengthy amateur career. Something about Kelly has Hearn keeping him in the slow lane. It could be the way that Kelly was totally dominated by Kazakhstan fighter Daniyar Yeleussinov in their fight in the 2016 Olympics. Kelly lost every round to Yeleussinov, who went on to capture the Olympic gold. The 27-year-old Yeleussinov turned pro earlier this year in 2018, and he’s one of Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA stable fighters, and is looking a lot more advanced than Kelly right now. Hearn is probably going to keep Kelly and Yeleussinov in separate lanes, as it would be a waste of time to put them in with each other right now. The 5’10” southpaw Yeleussinov is looking sensational and possibly capable of winning a world title at 147 in the near future.
It’s unclear what Kelly will do. He’s looking good right now for a prospect, but there’s no indication that Kelly is capable of holding his own against the lions in the welterweight division like Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter, Terence Crawford, Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Manny Pacquiao or Jose Benavidez.
Other fights on this Saturday’s Oleksander Usyk vs. Tony Bellew card:
– Anthony Crolla vs. Daud Yordan
– Sam Hyde vs. Richard Riakporhe
– Ricky Burns vs Scott Cardle
– David Allen vs. TBA
– Dmytro Mytrofanov vs. TBA