Josh Kelly is signing up for the most violent gamble of his career. Nearing a deal to face Jaron Ennis in a late November or December three-belt junior middleweight unification on DAZN, Kelly is skipping safe title defenses to throw himself into the line of fire.
Ennis holds the WBA and WBO straps after obliterating Xander Zayas, while Kelly carries the IBF belt out of a blood-soaked brawl against Caoimhin Agyarko. Kelly fixed up his damaged nose and jumped right toward the division’s biggest puncher, giving Eddie Hearn an easy in-house fight to make without the usual network politics getting in the way.
“We’re in final negotiations for the Josh Kelly fight, that big unification. It looks to land end of November, December on DAZN. That’s another great fight. What Boots says he wants to do is very simple: Kelly, Fundora, undisputed. After that, anything goes,” Hearn said to Matchroom Boxing.
Taking this fight earns Kelly respect, but stepping in front of the division’s most lethal finisher is a tough ask. Kelly’s defense relies on slipping, rolling, and dangling his hands around his belt line with his chin sticking straight out. Boots eats those habits alive. Ennis switches stances without breaking rhythm, corners opponents before they can reset, and unloads explosive hooks the second someone tries pulling backward.
Kelly’s gas tank is an equally massive issue. Surviving Agyarko took serious heart, but fighting through a broken nose drained him. Ennis digs brutal body shots early, stealing legs and refusing to let opponents catch a second of breath. Kelly cannot dance, flick jabs from his hips, and expect his legs to keep him safe once the fight moves past the fourth round.
Kelly’s single opening is catching Ennis mid-shift. If Boots gets careless while switching stances, Kelly has the hand speed to plant a hard right down the pipe. Hanging around to watch it land, though, gets him knocked out. Staging this in the UK would hand Kelly a roaring crowd, but hostile territory has never slowed Boots down.
Hearn loves mapping out clean routes to undisputed glory, but planning a date with WBC champion Sebastian Fundora in early 2027 ignores the damage unification bouts leave behind. Fundora still has to get past Ermal Hadribeaj on October 17, and Boots could easily pick up cuts or broken hands putting Kelly away.
Kelly is fast, sharp, and has nothing to lose, but he cannot treat the ropes like an escape hatch. Every single defensive flaw he relies on feeds directly into the punches that make Boots terrifying.
