Damaen Kelly

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Damaen Kelly

Real name	Damaen Kelly
Nickname	The Wee Man
Weight	Bantamweight
Nationality	Irish
Birth date	August 18, 1976
Birth place	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Style	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	25
Wins	22
Wins by KO	10
Losses	3
Draws	0
No contests	0

Damaen Kelly (sometime incorrectly known as Damien Kelly) is a former professional boxer born on August 18, 1976 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Kelly fought has last professional fights in the Bantamweight division but was more noted for fighting within the Flyweight division.

As an amateur, Kelly fought out of the Holy Trinity Boxing club in the Turf Lodge area of West Belfast. At national level he boxed for Ireland and won a bronze medal at the European Amateur Boxing Championships in 1996. This qualified Kelly for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Altlanta, USA, where he reached the quarter finals. Kelly then turned professional in September 1997, winning his debut fight at the Ulster Hall, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, when Kelly beat Welshman Chris Thomas on a card that included Steve Robinson, Julius Francis and Neil Sinclair.

In April 2006, Kelly challenged Italian Simone Maludrottu for the European Boxing Union Bantamweight Title, losing an extremely controversial decision. The vast majority of onlookers believed that Kelly had won a fairly comfortable decision, but the Italian was given the verdict by all three judges.

In the rematch on 25 November 2006, Maludrottu stopped Kelly inside three rounds. Kelly then announced his retirement after the fight.

Kelly is a former British Flyweight Title, Commonwealth Flyweight Title, WBC International Super Flyweight Title, European (EBU) Flyweight Title, IBO Flyweight Title, WBF Flyweight Title, IBO Super Flyweight Title holder and was Irish-boxing.com's number one ranked Irish bantamweight boxer prior to his retirement.^[1]