JANUARY 2016, the start of Olympic year, and Sunderland boxer Josh Kelly was supposed to be honing his talents in order to enhance his chances of qualifying for Rio. Instead, as he freely admits, his focus was on partying rather than punching.

“I was living a normal lad’s life, going out with my mates, eating what I wanted, drinking what I wanted, late nights and other things,” said Kelly, who is a member of Houghton ABC. “When I was out I was just trying to be one of the lads, and if anyone asked how the boxing was going I just tried to blag it and say, ‘Yeah, it's going all right’. But I was talking rubbish.”

Six months on from winning a bronze medal at the European Games and making the last eight of the World Championships, and Kelly’s Olympic dream looked to be over before it had begun.

A mid-season injury had sapped his morale and dented his motivation. He had fallen behind fellow North-Easterner Cyrus Pattinson in the welterweight pecking order, and looked to have little chance of making the British team for Rio. And as he spent time away from the gym, he ballooned from his fighting weight of 69kg to a rather more portly 81kg.

“It all fell apart,” admitted Kelly. “I was injured and went up a weight, and then started going up a lot of weights. I more or less packed it in. I was 81 kilos, I’d put two stone on, I was a right fatty with a double chin.”

He needed a short, sharp shock, and it arrived from his dad, Paul, who had also been his coach for the vast majority of his career.

Watching his son preparing to celebrate his 22nd birthday, Paul did not want to see a potentially successful career go to waste. Josh had been drinking in plenty of Sunderland bars – now it was time to visit the ‘Last Chance Saloon’.

“I was sat with my dad and we started thinking about other careers, job prospects,” said Kelly. “I'm not thick, I have GCSEs, A-levels and stuff so it looked like I'd have to go down a different path.

“But my dad said, 'You should give it another go’. He said, ‘You’ll sit there when you are older and you'll regret not giving it a go’. I didn't want any regrets, so that’s what I did.”

His new-found resolve came too late to earn him a place at the first Olympic qualifier as he was still trying to lose weight, but Pattinson’s failure at the European Olympic qualifier meant the door for his comeback was still ajar.

He was selected for the final qualifying event in Baku, and boxed superbly as he made the semi-finals to guarantee his selection for Rio. He eventually left the World Olympic qualifier with a bronze medal, and was formally confirmed last week as one of the 14 British boxers who will be competing at next month’s Games.  

“I’m absolutely buzzing, but I don't think it's actually sunk in yet,” he said. “It's starting, little by little, and all my family and friends keep saying, ‘You are going to the Olympics’. But at the minute it’s an absolutely mad thought.

“I'll give the coaches their due, they gave me a chance so it showed they believe in me. I can't thank them enough for being there for me.

“As long as I keep my head screwed on, I've got a really good chance. I need to stay focused, I've not put any weight on, I'm fit and lean, maybe only one kilo above weight. I'm not taking my foot off the gas until I get one of those medals.”

Kelly is one of three North-East boxers in the British squad – Birtley’s Pat McCormack and Hartlepool’s Savannah Marshall have also been selected – and he will become the second Wearsider to have represented Britain at an Olympic boxing event when he takes to the ring in Rio next month.

The first, Tony Jefferies, won a bronze medal at the 2008 Games in Beijing, and Kelly is proud to be part of the region’s rich amateur boxing pedigree.

“There’s loads of talent up here,” he said. “I'm a working-class lad from an estate in Ryhope, and I’m sure all the other lads who've come through from up here are just the same.

“When me and Pat qualified, we were stood there looking at each other as if to say, 'What have we done?'. I don't think we got any sleep that night.

“Savannah as well, I was absolutely buzzing when she qualified. She's one of the most talented women boxers in the world, I think she'll be bang on for a medal in Rio.”

Kelly underlined his own potential when he handled the pressure of the final qualifier to successfully make the last four, and his medal-winning display at the European Games provides further proof of his fondness for the big stage.

As ever with the Olympics, much could depend on the luck of the draw, but like the rest of his team-mates, he will be travelling to Brazil with realistic hopes of making the podium.

“I’d be absolutely made up if I could do it,” he said. “If I get a good draw, and the sort of style of fights I like with a boxer that comes on to me, then I can do well.

“If a fighter wants to come out and try to take my head off, that's better for me. Hopefully, I should be able to get a medal.”

And what would happen if he was to make the podium? “If I won a medal, I think I'd have to employ someone to look after me because it would be a month of craziness,” he joked. “My dad might have to chain me in the house to keep me in!”