Craig’s ready to rock Ryan

Puncher says he can still mix it

Paisley puncher Craig Kelly has vowed to attack from the first bell and make his rival’s life “hell” when he returns to the ring next month.

The 35- year- old Buddie will be in action at the Radisson Blu, in Glasgow, on April 17 where he will face Irvine scrapper Ryan Brawley.

Kelly is bidding to make up for lost time, with the bout marking a return to the ring after having his licence suspended by the Boxing Board of Control following four knock- out defeats on the spin.

But Kelly insists that too much has been read into his recent record – and it is time for him to prove it.

With Brawley already talking the talk on social media, Kelly says he would love nothing more than to lay out his foe flat on the canvas.

He told Express Sport: “I know people will be sitting looking at that and thinking I am done. But I’m not, I had fights lined up and there were potential title fights that I could have been involved in over Christmas, but with the license suspended there was nothing I could do.

“I can still battle it out with the big guns. I can mix it with the best.

“Ryan Brawley has already been all over Twitter talking about what he is going to do when he has beaten me.

“Wait a minute. Yeah, he’s a good ticket seller and his record is decent – but he has fought nobody. He couldn’t crack eggs.

“He is in for the shock of his life when he gets in the ring with me. I’m going after him straight away. I’m holding nothing back.

“Brawley brings a good crowd so the fans will be booing me. But I’ve had that my whole career. I love shutting folk up.

“He clearly has a big mouth and thinks this is going to be easy so I am going to make his life hell for the whole fight.”

Kelly is back in training for the fight and he reckons he is in the best shape he has been for a number of years.

And although he is preparing for his first bout of 2018, he insists he already has his eyes on a title shot.

He added: “I’m back. It doesn’t matter what anybody says, I’m back.

“The past few months have been horrible with the suspension. But I explained to them that all the knockouts were body shots. I hadn’t been in the best shape because of my work, and my wee boy had just been born.

“It had been a bit of a year shall we say, I thought I was fine at the time, but in hindsight I wasn’t and I can understand why the authorities asked what was going on, because they know I am a good boxer.

“I just need to get back in the mix. I had my eyes on the Scottish Middleweight title, but I could also go in at light middleweight or welterweight. I know I’m in good shape. My style is enough to harass anyone.

“I’ll face anyone, I’ll take on anyone that wants to fight me. I’ll badger them from the first bell to the last. It is just a case of shaking off the rust before next month. But make no mistake, I’ll be ready.”