losing unanimously to Callum Simpson<\/a> in August 2024.<\/p>\nSecondly, the former British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champion has not competed even remotely close to world level at 168lbs, never mind 175lbs, as he looks to pull off an almighty upset against Morrell.<\/p>\n
The talented Cuban was supposed to face Callum Smith last month, only for an injury to rule his opponent out of their mouth-watering contest.<\/p>\n
In a bizarre turn of events, though, Morrell will now collide with Chelli on the undercard of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois at Manchester\u2019s Co-op Live Arena.<\/p>\n
Putting his inactivity down to \u201ccontract issues\u201d, and \u201cother things behind the scenes\u201d, Chelli tells Boxing News that he has kept himself ticking over in the gym.<\/p>\n
All the while, he has struggled to convince his domestic counterparts to roll the dice against him, but will now take a sizable risk in pursuit of a greater reward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I say I want big fights, I mean it. As you can see, I\u2019m fighting David Morrell \u2013 trying to prove to them [his domestic counterparts] that I\u2019m above their level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming up to 10 years as a pro, so I know how the process works; I know the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be patient, because you can have that one phone call that changes your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside his pro career, Chelli works for a company called Time Out Boxing, where he teaches the fundamentals to children with special educational needs or behavioural management issues.<\/p>\n
Initially, he says, the kids take one look and mistake him for an \u201caggressive guy\u201d, but then they get to know him and start to \u201cshow a lot of respect\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Londoner might have a harder time earning the respect of Morrell, however, even if this is an opportunity that he was actively pushing for.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as Callum Smith got injured, my dad literally went on every social media post and said: \u2018Give [Morrell] to my son\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we got a phone call from Alfie Warren [of Warren Boxing Management], telling us this fight could be made.\u201d<\/p>\n
While knowing the reputation of his next opponent, who lost a competitive decision to David Benavidez in February 2025, Chelli equally feels no reason to study the 28-year-old.<\/p>\n
He is, however, acutely aware of his familiar underdog status, which gave him an added incentive to produce strong performances against Jack Cullen and Anthony Sims Jr in 2020 and 2023, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t seen much of [Morrell], to be honest, but I know Benavidez is a good fighter and he did manage to go 12 rounds with Benavidez, so I\u2019m not going to underestimate him. But, on May 9, I\u2019ll show people my level and what I\u2019m capable of.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of people doubting me in many of my fights, but I think that motivates me to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n
In terms of a gameplan, Chelli has considered no such thing ahead of his clash with Morrell, who comes off a split decision victory over Olympic bronze medallist Imam Khataev<\/a> last July.<\/p>\nInstead, he would rather be prepared for all possible scenarios than focus primarily on a specific style of fighter, especially given that he has only had between three and four weeks\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really think specific sparring helps because, when you\u2019re in the ring with someone, they\u2019re always going to be different to how [you\u2019ve previously seen] them.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, with southpaws, I\u2019ve fought many of them and have always done well. I\u2019m always expecting the unexpected. Anything that comes my way, I\u2019ll adapt and manoeuvre around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regardless of the outcome, Chelli will still be mandatory for the British title at 175lbs, which certainly removes a degree of pressure from his showdown with Morrell.<\/p>\n
That said, there is a clear desire to get his career back on track and secure further opportunities, knowing he would be better-equipped to do so with an eye-catching performance in his next outing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From an outside perspective, Zak Chelli has been presented with a treacherous mountain to climb on Saturday, when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-574181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}