Josh Padley challanges for the vacant European super-featherweight title

Matchroom's Josh Padley lands another major title opportunity

Doncaster's Josh Padley (17-1, 5 KOs) will challenge for the vacant European super-featherweight title on the Bakhram Murtazaliev vs Josh Kelly undercard in Newcastle on Saturday, January 31, live on DAZN .

World title contender Padley will meet Frenchman Jaouad Belmehdi (23-2-3, 11 KOs) over 12 rounds for the EBU belt, a title that has previously been held by Alex Arthur, Martin J Ward, and, most recently, Ryan Garner.

30-year-old 'Paddy' reached 15-0 and was propelled into a WBC world lightweight title fight against undefeated American star Shakur Stevenson in February 2025. Josh stepped in as a late replacement and gave a great account of himself to the world, but was ultimately stopped after going down three times in the ninth round, in a fight he was never expected to win.

He has since bounced back with two impressive wins over 13-0 Marko Cvetanovic (TKO 5) and former British and Commonwealth champ Reece Bellotti (UD 10).

His opponent is a former French lightweight champion, who has also held the WBC Francophone super-featherweight title in 2024. BBN found out more info about the 27-year-old below.

Who is Jaouad Belmehdi?

Jaouad Belmehdi was born on March 11, 1997, in Beziers, Herault, France, and is currently 27-years-old.

His alias is 'Le bombardier Marocain', which translates to 'The Moroccan Bomber, named after the legendary French boxer Marcel Cerdan , who was the world middleweight champion in 1948-1949 and widely considered to be France's greatest boxer. Sadly, he died in a plane crash on October 28, 1949, just four months after conceding his NYSAC, NBA world titles and Ring Magazine belt to Jake LaMotta.

He trains at the Marcel Cerdan Beziers Boxing Club in the south of France.

In his last fight, in August 2025 in Beijing, China, he lost to former world champion Can Xu for the IBO International super-featherweight title via UD 12.

His three draws on his record all came within his first 10 contests during 2017-2019.

He was 19 fights unbeaten when he lost for the first time, which came at the hands of Irishman Gary Cully at Wembley Arena in London. Cully destroyed Belmehdi within just 35 seconds.

One of his career highlgihts was his split decision victory over 13-0 Alfred Lamptey in Abu Dhabi in March 2024, part of the 'Rising Stars Arabia' series.

Jaouad has a 47.83% KO ratio after knocking out 11 of his 28 opponents.