Barnsley’s Callum Simpson has long been discussed as one of the best unknown entities who started their professional boxing career on the small-hall circuit (club shows for U.S). The super-middleweight is a recent acquirement for Boxxer. He made his promotional debut on Lawrence Okilies undercards as he defended his WBO world super-middleweight title on Saturday night in Manchester.
Simpson extended his record to 11-0 (9 KOs) with a knockout of Celso Neves (9-3-2) in the third round of a scheduled eight-round contest. Simpson had scored a knockdown in the opening round following a short right hook on the inside before the stoppage in round three.
Speaking post-fight, Simpson had prepared for a long night against Neves. Neves, who had recently shared a ring last December with soon-to-be EBU title challenger Felix Cash, put in a valiant effort against one of Matchroom Boxing’s title hopefuls. However, Simpson impressed immensely against Neves.
“People before this fight thought this would be easy for me. Neves is a tough man who can fight on the inside. I was saying to people that it was not going to be easy. But to be fair, i did make it an easy fight.
“Felix Cash threw everything at this guy, and he couldn’t put a dent in him. I put him down in the first round. I didn’t jump on him trying to get him out of there because i thought i hurt him already, that i could hurt him again.
The second round was a bit scrappy. In the third round, yeah, i just threw a nice clean right hand, and he (Neves) did a little 180 degrees spin. The referee knew my power and i think he did the right thing in calling it off.”
Simpson then continued to talk about his ambitions and is targeting the top ten fighters in the country while insisting he wants to be active in boxing another three times this year.
“The guys above me in the rankings are only there because they have more experience than me. That’s it. I back myself against any of them guys. However, that is up to my team and Ben (Shalom, Boxxer) to decide what i do next. I want to be out before the end of spring, maybe early summer, and i want to be out another three times this year. I have always been an active fighter, and i am always in the gym and ready to move on to what’s next."