{"id":662583,"date":"2026-05-11T16:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/662583\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T16:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T16:33:14","slug":"imam-khataev-reignites-david-morrell-debate-after-zak-chelli-knockout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/662583\/","title":{"rendered":"Imam Khataev Reignites David Morrell Debate After Zak Chelli Knockout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone Knows I Won\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy brother, everyone knows that I won that fight, and you agree with that too, you have respect for that, I see support from you, thank you for that,\u201d Khataev posted.<\/p>\n<p>Khataev lost a close 10-round split decision to Morrell in July 2025 in a fight that produced heavy debate among fans because of the competitiveness of the contest and a fifth-round knockdown scored by Khataev.<\/p>\n<p>Morrell\u2019s loss immediately brought renewed attention to the close Khataev fight and the growing questions around his recent performances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m Ready\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Khataev also made clear he would still consider a rematch with Morrell under the right circumstances, although he remains focused on his upcoming June 4 fight against\u00a0Mickael Diallo in Montreal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf people want, I\u2019m ready for a good offer to rematch, but now I\u2019m not interested. I have a case June 4,\u201d Khataev posted on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Imam_Khataev\/status\/2053248467875627492\" rel=\"nofollow\">X<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The comments came after boxing journalist Mike Coppinger described Chelli\u2019s knockout win over Morrell as one of the biggest upsets of 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Morrell entered the fight as a massive betting favorite before Chelli stopped him late after gradually breaking him down and taking advantage of the Cuban\u2019s tendency to shell up against the ropes under pressure.<\/p>\n<p>Khataev\u2019s remarks quickly drew attention online because many fans already viewed the 2025 fight with Morrell as one of the closest and most disputed decisions of Morrell\u2019s career. With Morrell now coming off another damaging defeat, debate around his recent performances and long-term position at light heavyweight has intensified again.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"182\" data-end=\"497\">Dan Ambrose is a boxing journalist at Boxing News 24, recognized for his direct analysis and extensive coverage of the global fight landscape. His reporting focuses on major bouts, divisional developments, and the sport\u2019s most discussed storylines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEveryone Knows I Won\u201d \u201cMy brother, everyone knows that I won that fight, and you agree with that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-662583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}