Chelli Joins Zuffa as Light-Heavyweight Picture Sharpens

Zak Chelli has found a new home, and British light-heavyweight boxing has a new subplot to follow into the weekend. The 28-year-old from Fulham has signed a multi-fight deal with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing, the promotion confirmed this week, ending months in the wilderness after the biggest win of his career and putting one of the division's most unlikely contenders back on a major platform.

Chelli arrives with a record of 17 wins, three defeats and one draw, with nine knockouts, and with a story that still sounds improbable six months on. In May he accepted a fight with David Morrell, a two-weight world champion, on two weeks' notice, fell behind early, hurt the Cuban in the ninth round and finished him with a right hand with 36 seconds remaining in the tenth. It was staged on the undercard of the first heavyweight meeting between Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois, and it was immediately recognised as one of the upsets of the year.

"I am grateful for this opportunity. Zuffa is looking for fighters that they believe in, and I am proud to be in that category," Chelli said in the announcement. "I am thrilled that my fights will once again be shown on Sky Sports. I have fought on Sky many times, and they have always treated me well."

The Sky Sports connection matters. Zuffa Boxing agreed a multi-year partnership with the broadcaster earlier this year covering its events in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with at least five shows a year planned on British soil. Chelli's debut under the new banner will be announced shortly, with no opponent or date named yet.

"I want to make the fights that the fans want to see. I am ready to fight anyone, anytime, anywhere. I have proven that throughout my career," Chelli added. It is easy to dismiss that as standard signing-day language, but in his case the record supports it. He took the Morrell fight at short notice when almost nobody gave him a chance, and he has spent his career taking the hard road rather than the protected one.

Chelli turned professional in 2017 as a super-middleweight and collected English, British and Commonwealth titles before moving up to 175 pounds last year. He won the English light-heavyweight title in his first fight at the weight, and after a headline defeat to Callum Simpson he knocked out Adam Hepple before producing the Morrell shock.

Away from the ring, Chelli works as a supply teacher at a secondary school in Surrey, a detail that has followed him through every profile since the Morrell win. The classroom-to-ring story is real, but it should not obscure what he did in May: he solved a genuine world-class opponent, late, under pressure, on short notice. He now joins a Zuffa light-heavyweight stable that includes Radivoje "Hot Rod" Kalajdzic and Joe Ward, and he will be watching Saturday night closely.

The division's immediate focus is Manchester, where Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson meet for the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title at the AO Arena, live on DAZN, with the main event expected at around 22:00 GMT. The two men faced off for the final time at Thursday's press conference in Manchester, and Hutchinson wasted no time framing the rematch on his terms. "If the truth be known, he wouldn't have fought me unless it was for the world title," he said. "It's killing two birds with one stone, isn't it?" he added, naming the title and the chance to put right the wrong of their first fight, "and looking good while doing it."

That first fight, on the undercard of Anthony Joshua against Daniel Dubois at Wembley in September 2024, ended with Buatsi winning on a split decision after dropping Hutchinson twice. Hutchinson says the rematch was agreed in the changing room that night. "I said to him, I want a rematch," he recalled. "I said, I'm telling you, I'll get you. And here I am."

Hutchinson, 28, also revealed that he wrote in a book at the age of 13 that he would become WBC champion, a book he says he still owns. "Now I'm fighting for the WBC main belt," he said. The belt is vacant because Benavidez relinquished it, which also upgraded this rematch from an interim title fight to a full world championship. The two men went nose to nose at the end of the press conference, with promoter Frank Warren standing between them, and the face-off passed without a shove.

Buatsi, 33, has heard Hutchinson's version of events before and rejected it again this week. He told talkSPORT he was not bullied into the rematch, saying he wanted something on the line and that once the title was added, everything was accepted on his side. Asked about the age gap at Thursday's press conference, he answered simply: "I wouldn't be the first fighter fighting for a world title at 33."

Buatsi (20-1, 13 KOs) has since lost to Callum Smith and beaten Zach Parker, while Hutchinson (20-2, 14 KOs) has stopped Mark Jeffers and outpointed Ezra Taylor. The rematch is Buatsi's first world title fight despite an Olympic bronze medal from Rio 2016.

Chelli will have a keen eye on the outcome, although sanctioning bodies have often been reluctant to stage world title fights on Zuffa Boxing cards. Saturday will decide who holds the WBC belt. Thursday decided something quieter: Zak Chelli, the supply teacher who knocked out David Morrell on two weeks' notice, is back in the game.