John Kelly, British boxer, Died at 84

  Sports

John Kelly and died on January 17, 1932, in Belfast, and died on December 29, 2016.

He was a boxer from Northern Ireland.

Kelly was Irish, British, and European bantamweight champion in the 1950s.

John Kelly first had success as an amateur.

Kelly finished as runner-up in the Irish bantamweight final and went on to win a silver medal at the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Milan in May 1951.

Kelly made his professional debut in December 1951 with a win over Peter Morrison.

Kelly had 13 fights in 1952, all of them wins, including a points victory over Hogan Bassey.

Kelly was still unbeaten by June 1953, when he faced Bunty Doran at the Ulster Hall, Belfast for the Irish bantamweight title and the BBBofC Northern Ireland Area title.

He stopped Doran in the eleventh round to take both titles.

He moved up to featherweight and in March 1955 stopped Laurie McShane in the fourth round.

Kelly followed this in June with a points win over Aime Devisch, but in August was knocked out in the first round by Teddy Peckham.

John Kelly returned in 1957 with an eighth-round knockout of Teddy Barker, but this proved to be his final fight.

John Kelly passed away at 84 years old.