Belfast’s Caoimhín Agyarko lost by a close unanimous decision to Josh Kelly in their IBF super welterweight world title clash on Saturday night in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.Agyarko (now 18-1) was attempting to become the island of Ireland’s third current world champion, alongside Katie Taylor and Anthony Cacace, but fell short in his challenge against the current 11-stone champion.Agyarko started the fight boxing at range, which proved costly as Kelly had the better of the early rounds, showing his customary hand speed, showboating at times and forcing “Black Thunder” to the ropes.The action at long range suited the Sunderland man, although Agyarko continued to raise his hand at the end of rounds, trying to send the right signals to the judges at ringside.In the middle rounds, Agyarko started to close the distance more often, moving away from his usual slick style that had failed to bother “Pretty Boy” Kelly early on.The sixth round was the Belfast man’s strongest showing to that point and also saw Kelly docked a point for punches to the back of the head, after the referee had already issued two warnings for the same offence.Kelly began to look tired in the eighth and ninth and Agyarko found a home for the left hook on a couple of occasions. His greater urgency was the key to this period of success, but that energy dipped slightly in the final rounds.After his mid-fight slump, Kelly roared back into the action in the 10th with an impressive early offensive. Agyarko was forced to gut his way through the blows and finished the round strongly.The 11th and 12th were close rounds, and despite blood oozing almost constantly from his nose, Kelly got his second wind and increased his activity. Ultimately, Agyarko fell just short on scores of 114-113, 115-111 and 115-111, meaning that Kelly’s renewed urgency in the final two rounds was likely the key to his victory.[ Caoimhín Agyarko on the rise after surviving traumatic facial stabbingOpens in new window ]The bout was Agyarko’s first attempt to secure a world title, and only his second 12-round bout, while this was his opponent’s fifth time fighting the full distance.The fight took place on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s comeback fight against Kristian Prenga, an unknown Albanian heavyweight. Since his defeat to fellow Brit Daniel Dubois in June 2024, Joshua had only fought once, knocking out YouTuber Jake Paul.Joshua survived an almighty scare, rising from the canvas twice before knocking out Prenga in the second round, to pave the way for a Tyson Fury showdown.