Manchester has a new boxing hero as Tyson Fury sparring partner Jimmy Kilrain Kelly shocks world

Manchester woke up to a new world champion on Saturday after Jimmy Kilrain Kelly’s stunning win over undefeated Kanat Islam in Florida.

Kelly will be taking the WBO Global Middleweight Championship home back to Wythenshawe with him after upsetting the odds to beat Islam via a majority decision in Plant City.

Scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 95-95 saw the 29-year-old come out on top at the Whitesands Event Center, and signal the biggest win of the Manchester fighter’s career.

The Manchester Evening News spoke to Kelly after his momentous win out in the States to find out more about Manchester’s newest world champion.

Kelly was always destined to become a boxer. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Jimmy Snr, who had been on the amateur scene with over 100 fights to his name, and his grandfather, another amateur boxer.

It was that boxing heritage where he got his middle name, having been named after bare-knuckle fighter Jake Kilrain, who made a name for himself during the late 1880s as a prizefighter.

Kelly followed his dad down to Jimmy Egan’s gym in Wythenshawe and made his first steps in the amateur ranks, winning three junior ABA titles and two schoolboy titles before turning professional at 19.

“I got into boxing through my dad, he boxed with Jimmy Egan. It’s a decade next week that I turned professional,” Kelly said.

“When I was an amateur, my dad, Jimmy Egan, Steve Egan all helped me along the way. When I turned professional, it was the likes of Maurice Core.

“I’ve had a lot of support, a lot of good people who have helped me through my career. For this fight, I had Arnie Farnell, and I’ve had a perfect training camp.”

It was at Jimmy Egan’s gym where Kelly would meet future world heavyweight champion Tyson