Josh Kelly wouldn’t go as far as to label Bakhram Murtazaliev overrated.

The unbeaten IBF junior middleweight champ’s upcoming opponent does sense, though, that he has been undervalued as they advance toward their 12-round, 154-pound title fight January 31. DraftKings lists Murtazaliev as a 4-1 favorite, but Kelly thinks the disrespect extends well beyond oddsmakers.

“I think a lot of people are really, really underrating me,” Kelly told The Ring. “People haven’t seen me full potential yet, but [they’re] underrating how good I am. And I’m gonna show you, Bakhram. And I’m gonna show everyone else.”

England’s Kelly, 31, has won seven consecutive fights, all at or near the junior middleweight limit, since Russia’s David Avanesyan stopped the 2016 Olympian in the sixth round of their 12-round welterweight bout in February 2021 in London. Kelly (17-1-1, 9 KOs) hasn’t faced anyone as good as Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) since Avanesyan overpowered him, but the confident Brit believes he is a more skillful fighter than the champion.

“He’s a world-graded fighter,” Kelly said. “He’s got world-grade power. Every fighter needs to have that element to them to … compete at world level. I think I’ve got more elements in my game, which take out his sort of world-class elements. But we’re gonna see it all play out on fight night.”

Russia’s Murtazaliev, 33, will end a 15-month layoff when he encounters Kelly in a main event DAZN is set to stream from Utilita Arena in Newcastle, England. Murtazaliev brutalized Tim Tszyu throughout his last fight in October 2024 in Orlando, Florida, where he dropped the former WBO champ four times on his way to a third-round technical knockout.

“A lotta people [mention Murtazaliev’s] punch power, but I punch hard, and I punch fast,” Kelly said. “And what you can’t see coming is the shots that will hurt you, not necessarily the hard shots all the time. If you look at journeymen, they go through their career, and they’re not really getting stopped because they’re able to take hard shots, because they see them coming.”

Regardless, Kelly is eager to test himself against one of his division’s most formidable fighters.

The Ring ranks Murtazaliev fourth among its contenders for an unclaimed championship. Kelly isn’t in The Ring’s Top 10, but he is the mandatory challenger for Murtazaliev’s IBF belt.

“I’m willing to go against the odds,” Kelly said. “A hundred percent, I’m willing to go against the odds. I take people’s zeroes off ‘em, so I’m not fussed. I’m in there, I know what I’ve gotta deal with, I know how to deal with it and I’m gonna enjoy it on fight night, and the big nights are coming after that.”