Josh Kelly's first world title shot will likely be on home soil, as the Sunderland man seeks to dethrone the division's boogeyman in IBF beltholder Bakhram Murtazaliev later this year.

Earlier this month, the IBF officially ordered the two sides to negotiate terms after declaring Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs) was Murtazaliev's newly-inserted mandatory challenger.

The 31-year-old, who dismissed Romania's 24-1 pro Flavius Biea inside a round on June 6, was recently upgraded to the No. 1-ranked 154-pound contender for Xander Zayas' title after the Puerto Rican outpointed Jorge Garcia Perez to win vacant honours last month.

Although he told The Ring of an eagerness to test himself against all the champions - Zayas included - he's content starting with the hardest assignment after several years' worth of frustrating matchmaking have only allowed him to showcase his skills in fleeting spurts.

Murtazaliev's promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events told WBN that advanced discussions are ongoing with Kelly's trainer, Adam Booth, as they push towards finalising terms over finances, date and location as well as the right television network. Erickson Lubin, the original mandatory, instead opted for a fight with WBC interim beltholder Vergil Ortiz.

"I am in touch with Adam Booth pretty much daily, we are working diligently to get a deal done. It's obvious that the UK is the logical place to start looking."

She added that while developments are promising, it's easy for negotiations to be derailed by talking, so instead opted to disclose no further details. Kelly has fought all but two of his 19 professional bouts across the UK, predominantly in Newcastle and North West England.

He inflicted Ishmael Davis' career-first pro defeat on the Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois undercard at London's Wembley Stadium last September and that represents his best win, three years since making his debut in a new weight class at 154-pounds.

Longtime former European champion David Avanesyan, who has recently been training alongside Paddy Donovan before his Lewis Crocker rematch, stopped him in six rounds during their February 2021 bout and has earned two world title opportunities since then.

Murtazaliev-Kelly would represent one of few world title fights on UK soil this year, open the champion to a new audience and provide an acid test on whether 'Pretty Boy' Kelly is really as good as many have believed his potential suggested.

In Manchester earlier this weekend, Sauerland told Boxing News:

"We're in positive discussions with the other side, a few different options of how and where it could take place. Finally, Josh Kelly's moment to seize the stage, very excited about that, really want to get it over the line - he's been through hell the kid, really done well, I'd love him to become a world champion and believe he can do it.

"When you hear Murtazaliev, immediately you're thinking tough Russian. He travels well, went to Germany and got the result against Jack Culcay, this guy is as tough as they come, it's not an easy fight but Josh had agreed the Boots Ennis fight - that didn't happen - 48 hours later we got the call from the IBF that we were mandatory."