Rematch for Corcoran
Boxer Jay Corcoran faces Kelly for third and final time next month
Jason Kelly challenged Jay Corcoran to a rubber match in the ring on Sept. 30 and now it’s official.
Peterborough’s Corcoran and Brockville’s Kelly have fought twice on the undercard of Cody Crowley’s two boxing shows at the Memorial Centre this year.
Kelly won a majority decision in their first meeting and bout two was declared a draw, both over four rounds. The two boxers, who have a combined seven professional bouts, will fight Dec. 16 at Mississauga’s Hershey Centre on the undercard of Brandon Cook’s latest fight.
The 46-year-old Corcoran, a Metro Toronto police officer, made his pro debut against Kelly after a 70-bout amateur career. It was supposed to be one pro fight just to say he did it. Corcoran was disappointed with the outcome so he requested a rematch to see if he could walk away with a win.
After their draw, Kelly, 34, during an in-ring interview broadcast to the 3,000 spectators, challenged Corcoran to a third bout.
“I kind of felt like I owed it to him,” Corcoran said. “He didn’t have to take that rematch. I thought the decision in the first fight was right. Some people didn’t and thought I won. I don’t know. I don’t think I was busy enough. For him to take a fight against me, there are easier fights out there, in my hometown and give me the opportunity to go out with that win, I’ll do the honourable thing and oblige him.”
With Corcoran’s fifth child due in February, he says it’s now or never as once the baby arrives he’s hanging up the gloves. He’s been battling a chronic shoulder injury and his body is telling him it’s time.
“I’m already in shape and I figured now was the best time,” he said. “I’m not trying to cheat age. At a certain age you start to slow down and it’s tough. I still like doing it because every time I’m with these pros, world class fighters like Brandon Cook, I’m learning.”
Kelly was quite vocal leading up to the second bout promising to knock Corcoran out. He told the
Brockville Recorder and Times he gained a lot of respect for Corcoran in the rematch. They met at a recent card in Mississauga and cordially agreed to one more match.
“There’s a lot more respect for each other than there was in the first two fights,” Kelly said. “I think this one is going to be a lot more exciting than the first two fights.”
In the second bout, Kelly (1-31) said he was almost knocked out in the first round by the hardest punch he had ever taken, but managed to regroup and win the third and fourth rounds to pull out a draw.
Kelly is expecting this fight to be different from the others and said his style is going to, “change dramatically in this third fight.”
He admitted he might have been a little too cocky going into his last bout with Corcoran as he was focused on knocking him out rather than training for a boxing match, and he ended up being the one that almost hit the mat.
Kelly is discarding everything from the previous fights with Corcoran. He’s going in as a clean slate, he said, and letting his coaches tailor his style.
“After I beat him the first time I was thinking about the knockouts and doing different training instead of what I really needed to focus on with my coaching,” Kelly said.
“I almost got knocked out in the first round (in the second fight) and that really brought me back to reality and I had to get back to fighting basics. Basics win fights.”
Regardless of results, Kelly assured this was going to be his last meeting with Corcoran. He has eyes on taking a step up and fighting six-round bouts instead of the four rounds he’s been battling Corcoran in.
“This is my statement fight. I’m 1-0-1 against him right now and my goal is to go 2-0-1 against him,” Kelly said. “To knock him out I want to go and pepper him with shots, throw 150 to 200 punches a round and then make a point that he won’t want another fight with me after this and then that will be it.”