2017 The Voice winner Judah Kelly has shed a shocking 40kgs through boxing training since the start of the year.

He was hoping to record a third album this year and was set to tour around Australia until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I made a decision to take the year off and to focus on the health side of my life which obviously I had neglected for quite some time,” Judah said.

“I’ve lost 40kg since December, but being so big already, you don’t really notice 40kg missing. There’s a long way to go yet.”

The boxing training is done by David Turner, who represented Australia in boxing at the Commonwealth Games, so it’s clear Kelly is in good hands.

“My coach is David Turner (who represented Australia in boxing at the Commonwealth Games),” Judah told news.com.au.

“I met his daughter on The Voice – she was competing the same year as me.

“I knew he was training people and I went to catch up with him after the show and he had a session going and it piqued my interest.”

It’s not the first time Kelly has lost a considerable amount of weight, as he lost a “heap” in 2014.

“I actually lost a heap of weight in 2014 and I became quite depressed; it was weird,” he explained.

“I didn’t really have a goal back then. I had a lot of pressure in my life and thought if I became skinnier I would become happier.

“I became obsessed with getting skinny – and that just leads to a whole cycle of craziness. I was depressed even though I was the skinniest I’d been in ages.

“In the end, I figured I’d rather be fat and happy rather than super skinny and hating myself.”

Despite putting the weight back on, Kelly is confident it’s different the second time around.

“The first time around it was just about, ‘Get skinny.’ But where does that end? It doesn’t,” he said. “This time around I have a goal of what I want to do.

“I actually want to have a boxing fight, just amateur, but the only way to do that is to cut down to a heavyweight max … around 120kg.”