Liam Smith sent message by Josh Kelly after Anthony Joshua undercard withdraw

Josh Kelly remains open to fighting Liam Smith after he saw off late replacement Ishmael Davis at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night. Kelly had initially been due to face Smith on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s huge heavyweight showdown against Daniel Dubois.

However, the Joe McNally-trained fighter was forced to pull out of the bout a week before it was due to take place due to a virus. Davies was brought in as a late replacement, but Kelly produced a dominant display to pick up the victory via the judges’ scorecards following 12 rounds of boxing.

Speaking after the fight, Kelly left the door open to a showdown with Smith but also said fights against Conor Benn or Chris Eubank Jr would appeal to him. "The Liam Smith one is a bit mad at the moment; I've been getting ready for that fight all year, and it keeps getting pulled,” he said.

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"Conor Benn or a Eubank, get me one of them, 100%. It might have to be next year, let me heal up. They want to box on cards like this, I've boxed on this card, let's make the fight. I believe I will beat both of them."

Kalle Sauerland, Global Head of Boxing at Wasserman, added: "Of course Liam Smith is still a big fight, so is Conor Benn, Chris Eubank, and, potentially, Kell Brook.

"The Conor Benn fight goes back six or seven years. Kell Brook was talked about a lot before this fight, and we had made the Smith fight before he was forced out."