Boxing Career
Kelly became a championship boxing referee, officiating Jim Corbett's only successful defense of his heavyweight title against Charley Mitchell on January 25, 1894 in Jacksonville, Florida. In the second round, after Mitchell had begun the fight with constant slurs directed at Corbett, the champion landed a blow to Mitchell's head after he had been knocked to the mat. Mitchell's corner called for a foul, but the presence of numerous spectators brandishing guns and eager to defend their bets led Kelly to dismiss the complaint; he later confided that he had been lucky to leave Jacksonville alive. He also called the heavyweight fight between Corbett and Tom Sharkey on November 22, 1898 in New York, which ended in controversy when one of Corbett's cornermen jumped into the ring in the ninth round. Kelly announced that although Corbett had lost the fight on the foul, all bets were off. On July 3, 1899 in Buffalo, New York, Kelly refereed the bout in which Frank Erne won a 20-round decision to take the world lightweight title from Kid Lavigne.
Kelly died in Malba, Queens at the age of 69, and is interred at the Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, New York.
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