Zak Chelli explains how he snared showdown with David Morrell

Zak Chelli has promised to make the most of his unlikely shot against Cuban light-heavyweight star David Morrell.

Morrell, who had been due to face Callum Smith earlier this month until the Liverpool veteran was forced to withdraw with an injury, now fights Chelli on May 9 in Manchester on the undercard of Daniel Dubois’ challenge of WBO heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley.

Chelli is 16-3-1 (8 KOs) and, after losing a decision to Callum Simpson in Barnsley in August 2024, returned to stop Adam Hepple via 10th round stoppage last June.

Now he has the formidable task of facing Morrell, who is 12-1 (9 KOs) and who, in his last three fights, has fought Radivoje Kalajdzic, David Benavidez and Imam Khatev.

“Once we heard that David Morrell, his fight with Smith [was off], and Smith had to pull out because of injury, my dad went crazy on social media and started saying, ‘Give him to my son, give him to my son, my son’s the best super middleweight, the best light heavyweight in Great Britain…’ And then a week after that, we got a phone call from management saying, ‘Listen, we can make this fight happen.’ They want it as well. So that was three weeks ago. “And it was like, cool, we’ve asked for it. Let’s do it.”

While Chelli has plenty of respect for Morrell, he is also confident in his own abilities and is certain he will give a good account of himself in Manchester.

“He’s a former super middleweight world champion, he’s young, he’s the same age as me, 28. He’s had an impressive career, impressive amateur career. He’s got a big team behind him. But he’s a southpaw, he’s got good footwork. But of course, styles make fights, and I believe my style is great for me against him.”