It is 27 months since Josh Kelly was first supposed to step in the ring with David Avanesyan. Kelly believes the delay has been in his favor.

The pair meet for the European welterweight title at Wembley Arena on Saturday night. Since their first date fell through at late notice, Kelly has been taken the distance three times, winning two and drawing one. Avanesyan has three knockouts. But if those facts give the Russian any confidence, Kelly believes it is misplaced.

“It could be his downfall, he might think he will be able to walk through me,” Kelly said. “But I am a lot bigger and stronger than he thinks, I am a big, big 147 and when I get in there, he will feel it.

“Has the time elapsed between when the fight was first supposed to happen and now done me good? Yes, it has. Of course it has. Has it done him good? I’m not sure. Even so, I’m expecting the hardest fight of my life.”

“I feel I will stop David, I am punching harder than ever and everybody will be shocked.”

Kelly, 26, has got used to high expectations. Dubbed Pretty Boy and labelled as a potential future world champion before he had even laced up gloves as a professional. But Kelly has got used to not trying to live up to the expectations of others.

“It has got a lot easier over time,” he said. “At the start you’re just a kid and you’re thinking ‘oh my god, who’s coming to this? Who will be at that?’ And whatever else.

“But as you get older you realise that nothing like that really matters. All that matters is what you do in the ring, no talking, no nothing – it only matters what you do inside that ring.

“I don’t take a lot of the compliments to heart and I don’t take the negative things to heart, I just try to sail through neutral.

“As you get more experienced and you hear people talk and throwing some shade and you see through it. The more you talk, the more you throw yourself under the bus [if things go wrong], so I let people talk and let people do their thing and I will get through it.”

Kelly has not boxed since a points win over Winston Campos in December 2019. He had been due to face Avanesyan again last year, until the coronavirus pandemic struck. But, even though he is starting off the year boxing behind closed doors, Kelly has his eyes on a big year, including a summer fight with Conor Benn.

“I have short-term goals, I have long-term goals and I just need to focus on that and keep myself as happy as I can,” he said. “I feel like I will beat Avanesyan and the, God-willing, it will be Conor Benn and after that I hope it will be a big one at the end of the year. 

“I feel like I’ve grown up massively during this camp, 100 per cent. I was the youngest of that Team GB squad to turn over after the Olympics, I was 21 or 22 and I’m only 26 now.

“I’ve still got a lot of maturing to do but I feel like this time in camp, physically you can see I’ve matured and mentally I have too. Everything is coming into my prime few years now.

“I’ve learnt that in this boxing game you can be loved one day and hated the next, or vice versa. You can’t take anything to heart and just ride the wave and stay focused on your craft. That’s what I’ve done and I can’t wait to prove it.”

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.