FABIO WARDLEY VS DANIEL DUBOIS - FULL UNDERCARD PREVIEW
This Saturday night sees one of the main events of the year so far, but before it, there is, by some distance, one of the best undercards of the year.
From former world champions and two-time Olympic gold medallists to domestic dust-ups and some of the biggest prospects in British and global boxing, it’s an undercard that quite literally has it all.
We’ll be taking an in-depth look at the main card fights and then the rest of the undercard, starting with David Morrell Jr vs Zak Chelli.
David Morrell Jr vs Zak Chelli
A fight that quite literally came out of nowhere, Cuba’s former super-middleweight and light-heavyweight world champion takes on former British super-middleweight champion Zak Chelli.
Originally scheduled to fight Callum Smith last month, Morrell Jr saw his British debut called off just weeks before after Smith was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury.
Then, just a matter of days out from this show, it was confirmed that he’d be taking on Chelli, who last fought back in June when claiming the English title on his return to light-heavyweight.
In terms of the fight, Morrell Jr is the big favourite, and rightly so. He’s fought at a much higher level and arguably gave the recently crowned WBA and WBO cruiserweight world champion David Benavidez the toughest test of his career.
He should have too much power and ringcraft for Chelli here. However, the Londoner has it all to gain and nothing to lose and, when a fighter is in that predicament, it makes them a heck of a lot more dangerous.
Defeat for Morrell here would widely be regarded as one of the biggest upsets of the year and, to him, it’s likely just a keep-busy fight so he didn’t waste a training camp preparing for Smith. But this is professional boxing and anything is possible, so don’t write Chelli off too easily.
Jack Rafferty vs Ekow Essuman
Now, now, now — this is a fight.
Former British super-lightweight champion Jack Rafferty, who quite literally is never in a bad fight, steps up to welterweight to take on the equally entertaining former British welterweight champion Ekow Essuman.
Once widely regarded as one of the best-kept secrets in British boxing, Rafferty claimed the British title in 2024 when stopping Henry Turner late on and then made two successful defences of the title, once again showing his power by stopping both Reece MacMillan and Cory O’Regan.
He hit the first speed bump of his career when claiming a majority-decision draw against Mark Chamberlain, but it was evident in that fight that the weight had finally caught up with Rafferty, so it was no surprise to see him announce his step up to 147lbs in the aftermath.
His opponent on Saturday night, Ekow Essuman, has been one of the biggest stalwarts in British boxing over the past five or so years.
He’s won the British and Commonwealth titles and claimed the scalps of the likes of Josh Taylor, Samuel Antwi and Chris Kongo with solid performances.
He suffered just the second defeat and first stoppage defeat of his career against the talented Jack Catterall, so he’ll be hoping to return to winning ways here.
We called the Walker vs Eggington fight as a fight-of-the-year contender last weekend and it certainly delivered, and we’re calling this one to be right in the mix at the end of the year too.
Two men who can box, but they don’t half love a tear-up on the inside. Essuman has a lot of the advantages as he is an established welterweight and we know for a fact he can fight at a solid pace for 12 rounds, but with Rafferty, it’s the element of the unknown.
It was no secret that he was boiling himself down to make super-lightweight for a long time, but now up half a stone, you could make a fair argument that we haven’t seen the best of the Mancunian.
The winner of this will undoubtedly put themselves in a position to be world-ranked and, if one can get a convincing victory, it’ll be one heck of a statement. With the way they both fight, either of them would be a worthy addition to the Fury vs Joshua undercards at the end of the year.
Liam Cameron vs Bradley Rea
From one British banger to another, this time it’s the turn of the light-heavies as Liam Cameron faces off with former European champion Bradley Rea.
Two likeable fighters, Cameron has been one of the shining lights of British boxing since returning to the ring in 2023.
He’s 4-2-1 since returning, but he gave the supremely talented Ben Whittaker the toughest test of his career when their fight back in 2024 resulted in a technical draw in bizarre circumstances after Whittaker sustained an ankle injury when both fighters fell out of the ring.
A talented amateur, Rea challenged for the English title at middleweight before bypassing super-middleweight and stepping straight up to light-heavyweight.
As expected due to the size of the Stretfordian, he recorded seven straight wins, including five by stoppage, and picked up the European title in the process.
He caused Lyndon Arthur massive problems in his first defence of that title and had him on the floor in round two, but he couldn’t capitalise, with Arthur soon finding his rhythm and claiming the points victory over Rea.
Again, similar to Rafferty vs Essuman, these are two men who can certainly box and are technically sound, but they also want to entertain.
Rea’s lack of head movement ultimately probably cost him the fight against Arthur and, if he’s to get the win here, that’ll need to improve. But considering he’s much fresher than Cameron, having boxed nearly 100 rounds fewer, and going off recent form, Cameron will probably have to put in a career-best performance to get the win.
Rea’s a fit lad and he’s relentless, so in a War of the Roses clash, Cameron is going to have to think his way through this fight and look to pick Rea off, similar to how Arthur did.
Whether he can or not is the big question, but either way, we’re in for a cracking fight while it lasts.
Bakhodir Jalolov vs Agron Smakici
Another completely random fight that got added to the card less than two weeks out, two-time Olympic heavyweight gold medallist Bakhodir Jalolov takes on Agron Smakici, the man who caused the cut that resulted in the first fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk being postponed.
Despite winning gold at the past two Olympic Games, Jalolov turned professional back in 2018 and has won all 16 of his fights in the paid ranks, with 14 of those coming by way of stoppage.
He’s never really shared the ring with anyone fit enough to lace his boots, with his most notable victory coming when stopping the durable Kamil Sokolowski back in 2022, so you can make a fair argument that, on paper, Smakici is his toughest fight to date.
A man who’s mainly been used as a sparring partner for the likes of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, Smakici is 21-3, with his three losses coming at world level against Agit Kabayel, Artem Suslenkov and Zhan Kossobutskiy.
Similar to Jalolov, he’s a southpaw and, despite having 19 stoppages from 21 wins, if the two-time Olympic gold medallist is serious about replicating his amateur success in the professional ranks, he should have more than enough to deal with the Croatian.
Khaleel Majid vs Gavin Gwynne
The final fight on the main card sees Bolton’s Khaleel Majid take on the experienced former British and European lightweight champion Gavin Gwynne in a big step up.
A stylish fighter, Majid has gone up in levels over the past 18 months, claiming victories against the likes of Tom Farrell, Alex Murphy and Dave Ryan but, in Gwynne, he faces undoubtedly his toughest test to date.
Highly regarded as one of the toughest, most rugged fighters in the lightweight division, you can always rely on Gavin Gwynne to be in a good fight. He’s a former British and European champion and, in his last fight with Cameron Vuong, he was once again unlucky not to get the decision, like in the first fight between the pair a year earlier, this time claiming a majority-decision draw.
That fight showed that, despite now being closer to 40 than 30, Gwynne still has plenty left in the tank.
It’s a quality piece of matchmaking. It’s Majid’s second 10-rounder of his career and, with Gwynne, you know he’ll be in front of him throwing punches until the final bell.
Gwynne will test Majid’s heart and endurance and ask the young Boltonian to tick boxes he’s never needed to tick before. Interestingly enough, the bookies have Gwynne as a slight favourite and it’s easy to see why, but if Majid is as good as people in his camp suggest he is, he may just have too much boxing prowess for the Welshman.
A brilliant fight to kick off the main card.
Before the main card, there are some future and past stars of the sport returning to the ring. Randomly, former cruiserweight world title challenger Mike Perez returns against the undefeated Franklin Arinze, while undefeated prospects Javokhir Ummataliev, Issiah Hamilton-Allen and Bobbi Flood look to continue their unbeaten starts to their careers.
A superb main event and an equally good undercard — fight nights don’t get much better than this one, ladies and gents.