“He barely spoke of me”
“You barely talked about him. You talked about him trying to fight Benavidez or trying to fight Smith,” Chelli said Fight Hub TV after the fight tonight, discuss Morrell’s approach during the build-up to their fight.
Chelli repeatedly insisted afterwards that he never saw the result as an upset, despite public expectations strongly favoring Morrell.
“For me, it was never an upset for me. I saw it coming,” Chelli said.
“When I got in the ring, I saw 17 with nine knockouts for Zach Chelli. So I had that vision. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to knock him out.’
Chelli said he noticed early on that his right hand was landing effectively and decided to stay patient rather than chase a reckless finish. Morrell had shown a tendency to buckle under pressure near the ropes in previous fights, and Chelli finally took advantage late in the match.
“let me cook him”
“I noticed from the beginning that my right hand was hurting him,” said Chelli.
“So I was like, ‘Let me wait. Let me wait for the right time, right opportunity. Let me cook him.’
“Round by round, wait for the right time because I’m not going to do it right away. He recovers. I need the end where he can’t recover.”
According to Chelli, Morrell became increasingly frustrated because he struggled to consistently get clean shots.
“He started slowing down because he was missing. He couldn’t catch me properly. He was getting frustrated,” Chelli said.
The British fighter also compared his stoppage victory to the performances of previous opponents who failed to stop Morrell.
“Benavidez couldn’t finish himself”
“Look, Benavidez couldn’t knock him out,” says Chelli. “The Russian could not finish him.
“This right hand finished him. Alhamdulillah,” Chelli said.
The upset win immediately elevated Zak into bigger conversations at light heavyweight.
“What he wanted next, I want now,” Chelli said.
