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World boxing results Zak Chelli became the new British and Commonwealth super middleweight boxing champion after defeating Jack Cullen in a title fight. Zak Chelli won the rematch with Jack Cullen at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, Sunday (21/1/2024) early morning WIB.
After twelve rounds, the judges gave a unanimous decision to Zak Chelli. Howard Foster scores it 116-113, Victor Loughlin 116-112 and John Latham scores it 115-114. Zak Chelli deserved the win and became the new British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion.
The two fought to a draw in August 2020, with many people feeling Chelli deserved the win. Cullen’s results may have been mixed since that night, but he has boxed at a much higher level than Chelli since then.
And last September, he produced the best performance of his career to break Mark Heffron in three rounds and win the British and Commonwealth titles. At 190 cm, Cullen (22-5-1, 10 KOs) is a tall super middleweight, but he prefers to engage in close fights.
This has changed little since he started training under the Jennings brothers and is clearly determined to keep his distance and exploit his physical advantages. Not much happened in the opening round, as both fighters struggled to establish their rhythm and a right hand from Cullen was the cleanest strike of the round.
The second round followed a similar pattern, but Chelli (15-2-1, 7 KOs) was perhaps happier with how the fight went. Even though she was boxing on the outside, Chelli’s movement meant that Cullen couldn’t connect with her jab and she had difficulty landing attacks. Chelli managed to get in and threw a right punch at Cullen’s chin.
The fight started to pick up a bit in the third and fourth rounds. Realizing he was having trouble landing a single jab to the head, Cullen began to chain his punches together. He eased up on his attacks, got up on his toes and hit with combinations.
He also landed several short attacks on Chelli’s body as the two approached. Meanwhile, Chelli found success as she landed jabs and right hands, jumped in from the outside and got into the clinch.
Cullen – who had a cut around his left eye – controlled the center of the ring and was the more active fighter, but Chelli was able to make him miss with most of his strikes. Chelli had found the right time, making Cullen miss and landing a single attack from the outside, then getting into the clinch before returning to the attack and starting again.
When the fight entered the second round, Cullen tried to change tactics. Instead of chasing and missing Chelli, he started waiting for her. Chelli seemed to surprise Cullen with a short right hook and landed a solid double jab as he landed more punches.
(aww)