Less than a month after losing his British and Commonwealth titles to Zak Chelli, Jack Cullen has been handed an unexpected chance to get back into the super middleweight mix.

On April 6th, Cullen (22-5-1, 10 KO’s) will fight Croatia’s unbeaten Luka Plantic (7-0, 6 KO’s) for the WBC International title at 168lbs. The fight will take place in Aschaffenburg, Germany. 

Plantic has finished six of his seven professional fights inside the distance and stopped the decent but naturally smaller Argentinean Diego Ramirez in four rounds last October. The Croatian’s handlers have decided the time is right to step their man up and having seen Cullen’s lackluster showing against Chelli, they clearly see him as the ideal opponent to take the 27-year-old to the next level. 

Since outboxing Avni Yildirim back in 2021, Cullen has blown hot and cold. He was stopped by Kevin Lele Sadjo in a bid for the Frenchman’s European title and then taken apart in four rounds by the excellent Diego Pacheco. He rebounded to snatch the British and Commonwealth titles from Mark Heffron with a stunning third round knockout but then allowed Chelli to hustle him out of the belts in his first defense.

Cullen’s manager Steve Wood told BoxingScene.com that the 30-year-old contemplated hanging up his gloves following that defeat but that the chance to get straight back on the title trail has reinvigorated him. 

“Jack was disappointed after the British title fight,” Wood said. “He felt he didn’t perform anywhere near what he could do and that Zak Chelli got away with holding and spoiling the fight. He didn’t think he deserved to lose even though he was miles off the mark and he was considering retiring. Within a week, this opportunity came along and it kickstarted him to have another go. He’s really looking forward to the opportunity and putting right the wrongs that happened when he lost the titles.”