Josh Kelly is staying put. The IBF light middleweight champion just signed a multi-fight contract extension with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, setting his sights directly on major unifications for 2027.
The deal keeps Kelly locked in with Matchroom following a breakout run where he claimed his first world championship and successfully defended it. While Matchroom announced no date or opponent alongside the new paperwork, Kelly made his intentions clear immediately.
“I’m World Champion, and I am very excited about the future with Matchroom Boxing,” Kelly said. “Now I only want the biggest fights in the division. Unifications. Bring it on.”
The 32-year-old slickster took the IBF belt via majority decision over Bakhram Murtazaliev at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena in January. He then traveled to Jeddah in July, handing Caoimhin Agyarko his first career defeat over twelve rounds.
Those victories completely transformed his negotiating leverage. Kelly enters future talks holding genuine hardware rather than petitioning as a challenger.
Matchroom must now translate that ambition into reality. Kelly wants fellow champions, though Hearn stopped short of naming specific targets for the stablemate.
“We are thrilled to extend Josh Kelly’s contract with Matchroom Boxing,” Hearn stated. “He is an elite operator and one of the pound-for-pound best the UK has to offer. It is no secret that we have some huge plans ahead for Josh in 2027, where he will be aiming to add more World Titles to his collection.”
Kelly’s signature footwork carried him to the top. Meeting another belt-holder will test if that slick style holds up while mounting enough offensive output to take rounds against elite champions.
Now sitting at 19-1-1 with nine knockouts under trainer Adam Booth, Kelly gave his promoter clear instructions for 2027: line up the champions and let him work.
Hearn is rolling the dice here, because putting Kelly in the ring with Jaron Ennis looks like a recipe for a demolition. If that unification gets made, Kelly is facing an elite-level talent.
Ennis operates on an entirely different level of spite, power, and switch-hitting precision. Kelly might have the flashy reflexes to look cute for two or three rounds, but once Ennis starts cutting off the ring, targeting the body, and applying sustained heat, Kelly’s habit of pulling straight back with his hands down will catch up to him fast.
The foundation holding up Kelly’s sudden championship status looks shaky at best. Squeaking past Agyarko in Jeddah exposed all his familiar flaws. He spent long stretches coasting on the back foot, surviving on safety-first potshots, and failing to stamp any real authority on an opponent who had never operated anywhere near world level.
Before that, taking the belt off Murtazaliev raised plenty of eyebrows. Murtazaliev was relentlessly pressing the action, landing the heavier, more damaging blows while Kelly relied on flashy flurries that largely caught gloves and air. Handing Kelly a majority decision on home soil in Newcastle felt like a gift, not a definitive changing of the guard.
Locking Kelly down to a multi-fight extension right now puts Matchroom in a vulnerable spot. If the grand plan for 2027 is throwing him in against Ennis in a unification, Kelly’s market value could disappear in a defeat.