• David Morrell vs Zak Chelli replaced the original co-feature after Jared Anderson vs Solomon Dacres was scrapped when Anderson withdrew with an injury
  • Jack Rafferty makes his welterweight debut at 147lbs against former British champion Ekow Essuman in a fight that has every right to steal the night
  • Liam Cameron vs Brad Rea at light-heavyweight and Khaleel Majid vs Gavin Gwynne fill out the televised undercard, with both winners moving into European-level talks

Right Then — The Undercard That Survived The Storm

Right then, Manchester on Saturday night is going to be a long evening of boxing. The Don't Blink undercard, after all the late switches, is finally set. It started life with Jared Anderson vs Solomon Dacres as the co-feature, lost that fight when Anderson pulled out injured, and rebuilt around David Morrell vs Zak Chelli as the new chief support. That's the headline undercard fight. But the three British scraps below it are the ones I'm watching. Make no mistake, this card is genuinely stacked under the main event. Four television fights, three of them domestic crossroads bouts with European or world-level implications, and one of them — Rafferty going up to 147 — has the kind of stylistic intrigue that ends up on the highlight reel.

Morrell vs Chelli — The Co-Feature

David Morrell was always going to need a name on Saturday. The Cuban southpaw is one of the best 175-pounders alive, he last lost a competitive but clear decision to David Benavidez in February 2025, and he needs a credible win on a big stage to set up the rest of his year. Chelli is exactly the right opponent for that purpose. Brave, durable, capable on his night, and a stylist who'll make Morrell look brilliant if Morrell is on his game. Chelli is no journeyman. He's 17-1, with the loss being the close call to Cacace at 168 last October. He's a proper British operator. But Morrell at his best is two divisions and three steps above where Chelli has historically operated, and I don't see how Chelli neutralises Morrell's lateral footwork and the speed of the southpaw straight left. This one ends mid-rounds, probably with Chelli on his feet but absorbing damage that the corner can't justify any more. Morrell by stoppage, round seven.

Rafferty Up To 147 vs Essuman — The Pick Of The Undercard

The fight I'm watching with the most interest is Jack Rafferty moving up to welterweight to face Ekow Essuman. Rafferty has spent his career at 140 and below, where his speed and combination work were always brilliant but where he sometimes struggled to put men away. The move up to 147 is a pure hand-speed-vs-power experiment, and Essuman is the perfect litmus test for whether the move is permanent. Essuman is a former British and Commonwealth champion at 147 with a properly hardened style. He's not a one-punch finisher, but he's a man who walks people onto shots and makes them pay for the ground they cede. He's exactly the kind of opponent that exposes a step-up fighter who can't carry his old speed advantage at the new weight. My read on Rafferty in this fight: the speed will translate. The 140-to-147 jump is rarely a power problem — it's usually a chin and a clinch problem — and Rafferty's defensive shape has been brilliant in his last three. He'll out-box Essuman over twelve, win a clear-but-not-wide decision, and announce himself at 147 in a way that opens up European-title talks for the back half of 2026. Rafferty by unanimous decision, 117-111-ish.

Cameron vs Rea — The British Light-Heavy Crossroads

Liam Cameron against Brad Rea at light-heavyweight is the kind of British fight that doesn't get its due until afterwards. Two men who've been through the wars, both at career inflection points, both with European-level futures riding on the result. Cameron lost a tight one to Joshua Buatsi last summer that some people had him winning. Rea is a former European champion who's reinventing himself a division up. Stylistically this is two pressure-first fighters who don't quite have the chin advantage you'd ideally want at 175. That tells you almost everything about how the fight unfolds. Whoever lands the first clean lead right hand is probably the man whose hand gets raised, because both men will be in firing range from round one. I'll say it now — Cameron has the better educated jab and the slightly more economical engine. He starts behind, takes the body shots in the early rounds, and then accelerates through the middle frames as Rea runs out of legs. Stoppage in nine, or a wide unanimous decision if Rea finds a way to grind through to the bell.

Majid vs Gwynne — The Prospect Test

The other televised fight is Khaleel Majid against Gavin Gwynne, and this one's a textbook prospect-vs-veteran step-up. Majid is unbeaten, brilliant on the front foot, and one of the brightest 140-pound prospects in Britain. Gwynne is the experienced spoiler who has been in with everyone — a former British and Commonwealth champion who knows every trick at the weight. The danger for Majid here is the same danger that gets unbeaten prospects in trouble against operators like Gwynne — Gwynne won't let you look brilliant. He'll hold, lean, force exchanges in pockets where Majid wants to glide. Majid has to start fast, win the first three rounds clearly, and then survive the rough patch in the middle when Gwynne starts pushing his head. I'll back Majid to do exactly that. He's levels above Gwynne in pure boxing terms. The question is whether he can stay disciplined when Gwynne starts making it ugly. Majid by points, with one round where you wonder if the prospect train has hit a wall, and then a clear final two rounds that confirm he hasn't.

What The Undercard Tells Us About Saturday

Right, the broader read on this card. Queensberry have built the undercard around domestic stories that travel — three British operators in step-up fights, plus Morrell as the Cuban headliner-in-waiting — and that's a much smarter undercard than the original Anderson-Dacres co-feature would have been. American audiences get Morrell. UK audiences get Cameron, Rafferty and Majid. Both sets of viewers get reasons to tune in early and stay through to the main event. Make no mistake, the headline fight is still Wardley-Dubois. But on a fight night where the main event might well finish inside seven rounds — both men are punchers, neither is built for a slow chess match — the undercard is what fills the evening. And on this card, the undercard delivers. Right then. Saturday at the Co-op Live. Wardley vs Dubois for the WBO. Morrell, Rafferty, Cameron and Majid below it. Don't blink, indeed.