Boxer Josh Kelly on staying fighting fit during coronavirus lockdown: 'It's a mental battle more than anything'

Boxer Josh Kelly
Getty Images
Tony Mogan27 March 2020

Josh Kelly has urged his fellow fighters to win the mental battle needed to stay sharp with the country forced to stay indoors amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Kelly was meant to headline the O2 Arena in the capital this Saturday against David Avanesyan for the WBA European title.

But their welterweight contest became the first of many fights to be shelved due to the Covid-19 crisis.

Kelly's bout will be rescheduled later this year with the government introducing strict new measures to combat the spread of the virus, urging everyone in the country to stay home.

Sportsmen and women across the country are now maintaining their fitness levels as best they can in home gyms or their back gardens, with 2016 Olympian Kelly no different.

Kelly fought out a draw with Ray Robinson in New York last June Photo: Getty Images
Getty Images

The Sunderland fighter was in the final days of a 10-week training camp when his fight was called off last week.

Aware that fellow fighters have now suddenly loss the routine of going to the gym, he urges anyone in a similar position to keep themselves busy any way they can.

“It’s more of a mental game, a test of your mental endurance," Kelly told Standard Sport. "As well as keeping yourself physically fit, you need to keep yourself mentally active. And get yourself a new routine.

"Get yourself a routine in the house. That's the main thing, if people lose their routine that is when they go off the rails. We are used to living in the gym, getting up in the morning and going to the gym, come back, eat and sleep. It’s the same thing over and over again. When you lose that, it’s hard, you need a routine in place to help you through that.

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"You have to get things in place, little circuits you can do, little shadow boxing routines. Keep your mind ticking over. It’s more mental than physical, I think its always been like that, you have to keep yourself constantly in that routine.

"It's a bad place we are in, but you have to try and take the positives out of it. You can't let it take over. You can try close the gap on people in a sense while we have got this time off."

Watch Josh Kelly fight exclusively live on Sky Sports and DAZN.

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