Attell was Featherweight Champion for a record eleven years, between 1901 and 1912, and fought Kelly three more times in non-title fights.

[1][2] First plying his trade as a newsboy, Kelly started his boxing career in the greater New York area around 1900, fighting largely in clubs in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Erie, Pennsylvania and northeastern Canada.

Lavin was a skilled 5' 11" Irish welterweight from Buffalo who would beat several outstanding boxers in his class after 1909 including Leo Houck, Unk Russell and ex-welterweight champion Honey Mellody.

The World went on to note that "in this style he (Hoey) met his master in Kelly, who would lead with a left jab and then tear in with head down, working both hands like piston rods for his opponent's mid-section.

The Call wrote that "from the workmanlike manner in which he (Attell) brought the unequal contest to a close, it was evident that he could have ended it much sooner had he been so inclined."

The referee completed a full count shortly after the fight was called a TKO by a Police Captain present at ringside.

[9] Kelly made no excuses for his performance and admitted what many already knew when he told one reporter, "he was outclassed by Attell", and simply lacked the champion's experience.

[10] In their second Featherweight title bout in Washington state on April 20, 1908, Attell finished Kelly in eight rounds, chewing gum during the match.

[1] The El Paso Herald noted that Kelly had once fought a draw with future Welterweight Champion Jack Britton, and beaten the noteworthy New York boxer Grover Hayes.