West London fighter Chelli beats Morrell in huge upset

West Londoner Zak Chelli pulled off a massive upset against highly-rated world title contender David Morrell, stopping the Cuban in the 10th and final round of what was expected to be a one-sided light-heavyweight fight in Manchester.

Morrell, a former world champion and very much regarded as one of the division’s leading fighters, was due to face Liverpool’s former super-middleweight world champion Callum Smith, who dethroned Hammersmith’s George Groves in 2018 and is currently the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) interim champion.

After Smith was ruled out by injury, Chelli, the current English champion, was handed a huge opportunity – in only his second fight at light-heavyweight, having campaigned at super-middle before winning the domestic title at 175lbs last year.

And he made a mockery of the odds, staggering Morrell with a right over the top towards the end of the ninth and then finishing the job midway through the following round, landing a flurry of shots to prompt the referee to step in.

He was behind on the scorecards but was competitive in the previous eight rounds – and then ruthlessly took his opponent out in dramatic fashion.

The fight took place on the undercard of the heavyweight world title clash between Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois.

Morrell’s only previous defeat was on points against unbeaten world champion David Benavidez – and Chelli now wants a crack at the American star.

“Bring him along. I want a world title,” Chelli declared.

“He (Morrell) was number two. Give me number one.”