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Jay Byrne secures Sky Sports fight with Olympian

Dublin welterweight Jay Byrne [4(1)-1(0)] has secured another big fight on Sky Sports.

The Loughlinstown man won plenty of admirers earlier this month when he jumped up two weights to take on middleweight prospect Felix Cash at the York Hall, bringing the big puncher the full six rounds in what was a competitive fight.

Byrne had been due to make his return this Saturday on the ‘Táimid Laochra’ card in Dublin, but sadly saw this date shelved yesterday with the ‘It’s A Bout Boxing Ireland’ card being cancelled.

The 30 year old didn’t have time to dwell on the disappointment though, with it today being confirmed that he will face Matchroom’s new signing Josh Kelly in the Sunderland boxer’s professional debut on Saturday April 15th at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.

The fight will take place over six rounds at Byrne’s natural weight of 147lbs.

Kelly competed for Team GB at the Rio Olympics, reaching the Last 16 before being eliminated by eventual gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan.The Englishman also won bronze at the 2015 European Games, edging Wexford’s Adam Nolan in the quarter finals.

In the pro game he will be trained by Adam Booth alongside Irish stars Andy Lee and Ryan Burnett.

The card in two and a half weeks time will be headlined by a WBA-IBF light welterweight unification between Ricky Burns and Julius Indongo. Also featuring on the bill is a British lightweight title fight between Scotty Cardle and Robbie Barrett, a Commonwealth light heavyweight title fight between Callum Johnson and Schiller Hyppolite, a British super flyweight title fight between Charlie Edwards and Iain Butcher, a Celtic lightweight title fight between Charlie Flynn and Ryan Collins, and a Celtic super bantamweight title fight between Joe Ham and Scott McCormack. In addition there are slots for Willie Limond, Felix Cash, and Lawrence Okolie.

Photo Credit: Laszlo Geczo Photography

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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