JOSH KELLY wants a glamour showdown against either Conor Benn or Chris Eubank Junior after brushing aside middleweight rival Ishmael Davis at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

Kelly secured a majority verdict over Davis on the undercard of Daniel Dubois’ dramatic heavyweight win over Anthony Joshua, with his opponent having been a late replacement for the ill Liam Smith.

The Sunderland fighter dominated throughout, even though one of the three judges scored the opponents level at the end of the contest.

The other two judges ruled in Kelly’s favour – one handed the Wearsider a 115-113 verdict, with the other scoring the fight at 115-114 – and ‘Pretty Boy’ immediately set his sights on bigger domestic targets.

He will have to wait for cuts to his nose to heal, with the damage causing him problems in the final round on Saturday night, but is hoping for a headline contest in the first half of next year.

“The Liam Smith one is a bit mad at the moment,” said Kelly. “I’ve been getting ready for that right all year and it keeps getting pulled.

“Conor Benn or a Eubank, get me one of them, 100 per cent. It might have to be next year, let me heal up. They want to box on cards like this, I’ve boxed on this card, let’s make the fight. I believe I will beat both of them.”

Kelly was never seriously troubled by Davis, although the final round proved somewhat troublesome after some deep cuts opened up on his face.

“I got cut, and the blood was blurring my eyes,” said Kelly. “I couldn’t see properly, every time I was ducking down, my vision had gone. It wasn’t necessarily a hard shot. It was a clean shot, don’t get me wrong, and as soon as it opened the cut, I couldn’t see anything with my eyes.

“He’s a strong, decent kid, but I felt going into the last round that I couldn’t lose the fight. At six days’ notice, you get an opponent who’s strong, game and believes he can win.

“I just perform as I can, but all credit to Ishmael Davis and his team. They came for a good fight, and put a good effort in.”

If anything, Kelly admitted the early stages of the fight were perhaps too easy, lulling him into a sense of security that dented his ambition in the latter half of the contest.

“I feel as though I need to keep myself switched on during a fight when I’m in there and finding it a bit easy,” he admitted. “But it was a good fight, and I definitely felt as if I won it.”

Kelly’s promoter, Kalle Sauerland, who is the global head of boxing at Wasserman Promotions, will now set about trying to secure a lucrative follow-up bout.

Kelly had been preparing for a blockbuster domestic contest with Smith, and that fight could still happen in the early stages of next year. Alternatively, other high-profile potential opponents are also in the mix.

“Of course, Liam Smith is still a big fight,” said Sauerland. “So is Conor Benn, Chris Eubank and, potentially, Kell Brook.

“The Conor Benn fight goes back six or seven years. Kell Brook was talked about a lot before this fight and we had made the Smith fight before he was forced out.”