Reports are circulating that Manchester-born light middleweight will challenge for the WBO light middleweight World title on the bumper Boxnation bill on November 19th at the Manchester Arena.

Elliot Foster of BoxingScene.com broke the news today that Kelly [16(7)-0] will challenge new champion Liam Smith [21(11)-0-1] for the strap on the Xmas Cracker card.

Liverpool’s Smith stopped American John Thompson last month on the WW3 card at the Manchester Arena to become Macklin’s Gym Marbella’s first world champion. 23 year old Kelly, who has Irish parentage, won the WBO Inter-Continental belt on the same night and will now seemingly challenge for the title next month at the same arena.

The fight will be officially announced at a press conference in Liverpool tomorrow.

The bill, of course, is headlined by Limerick’s Andy Lee who finally defends his WBO middleweight title against England’s Billy Joe Saunders after two postponements.

Read Elliot Foster’s story in full HERE

Photo credit – John Marfleet. Twitter – @C_C_photos