Tuesday 9 August 2016 01:13, UK
Josh Kelly made an impressive Olympic debut by out-classing Egypt's Walid Sedik Mohamed to cruise to a unanimous decision.
The Sunderland welterweight was in control from the start and although his opponent's crude approach and wild punches threatened to cause problems, the 23-year-old strolled to a 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 success.
Kelly, ranked seventh in the world, showed why in the opening round, picking his shots perfectly whenever Mohamed came charging in. The straight right was the key to his control but as soon as he started adding the left hook to the body, his class started to show.
Kelly started the second ducking under a wide and wild right and responding with two lefts and even when he briefly switched to the southpaw stance midway through, he still beat his man to the punch, the left to the ribs again leading the way.
Mohamed's crude style led to some unsightly clashes but Kelly showed his footwork off by punching as he moved back out of range, avoiding the threat of a cut, and catching the Egyptian more often than not.
Even when he was swamped though, Kelly proved he can work inside as well, a lovely right uppercut showing the watching welterweight class, he has a variety of shots and uses them with precision and certainly more power in the closing stages.
He might well need them in the next round on Thursday, when he takes on the Olympics number two seed and world's number one, Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan.
