Britain’s Josh Kelly beat Bakram Murtazalev to win the Newcastle IBF light middleweight title.
The Sunderland man lost to Russian Murtazaliev in the ninth round, with two further falls later ruled to be mistakes by the referee.
Kelly, who knocked down his opponent in the fourth round, had one judge scoring the fight 115-111 in his favor, another grading it 114-113 and a third 113-113 tie for the win.
Kelly won first place on two of the judges’ three scores, with the third score being a draw.
The 31-year-old is Sunderland’s first world champion. BBC Radio 5 Live After: “It’s like a dream. I imagined this.
“I had to focus. I felt overwhelmed. I had to get back on stage and get my mind back on track. I was mentally exhausted.”
Kelly has won eight straight since suffering his first professional loss to David Avanesyan in February 2021, bringing the number of current British men’s world champions to six.
Kelly holds gold alongside compatriots Fabio Wardley (heavyweight), Lewis Crocker (welterweight), Jazza Dickens (superfeatherweight), Nick Ball (featherweight) and Dalton Smith (super lightweight).
Trained by Adam Booth, ‘Pretty Boy’ knocked Murtazalev to the mat with a vicious left hand in the fourth round and winked as his rival got to his feet.
Murtazaliev, a knockout specialist who lost for the first time in 23 fights, used his venomous left hand to knock Kelly down in the ninth round but was outclassed by the home boxer.
