Callum Simpson will prioritise defending his European super-middleweight title, regardless of his long-term ambition of winning a British title outright.
The 28 year old won the British and Commonwealth titles when outpointing Zak Chelli in August 2024, defended them against Steed Woodall in January, defeated the Ghanian Elvis Ahorgah a month later, and then won the vacant European title when recovering from two knockdowns to stop Ivan Zucco of Italy earlier in June.
On the undercard of his most recent contest, at Oakwell Football Ground – the stadium of his hometown soccer club Barnsley – his domestic rival Mark Jeffers lost for the first time, to Sean Hemphill of New Orleans.
The indications were that Simpson’s promoter Boxxer and broadcaster Sky Sports were preparing to match them in the event of them both winning, but the defeat suffered by Jeffers will rule him out, likely leaving Simpson without a British opponent to defend his titles against and two short of the number of defences required to earn it on a permanent basis.
He again mentioned his fellow Briton Hamzah Sheeraz as a possible opponent, but Sheeraz fights Edgar Berlanga of Puerto Rico on July 12. Chelli, after Sheeraz and Jeffers, is the next highest ranked Briton by the EBU – the 168lbs landscape of 2025 has an unusually low number of British contenders – meaning Simpson, regardless of his preferences, ultimately has little choice.
“I’m not giving up on the dream yet – not just yet,” he told BoxingScene. “I’m just hanging on to it by a thread, pretty much. I’ve got to focus on my career and progressing; I can’t be held back by the British title.
“Ideally, on the route to winning the British outright, it’d be nice to fight Hamzah Sheeraz for the European and British, but I know he’s got a tough fight. I know I’m gonna be out before the end of the year – who that’ll be against, I really don’t know. It makes sense to have a defence of the European, but I don’t know if there’s anyone [else] British who’d be able to fight for the European, so I’m not too sure. I need to speak to my team and my manager, Boxxer, and just see what’s next.
“I were disappointed for [Jeffers] that he lost. He’s a nice lad; he’s a nice kid. But I weren’t really too bothered in that sense [in the context of him being a potential opponent]. I was calling him out this time last year; it never come to fruition, and now I’m way ahead of him. I don’t think we’re on the same trajectory; maybe Boxxer and Sky were trying to build it like that. I’m not world level yet – I’m not the finished article yet – but I will get there. I’d rather do my talking in the ring than outside the ring.”
Simpson has established himself as one of Britain’s most popular fighters. The victory over Zucco represented his second at Oakwell in under a year, and proved sufficiently entertaining that not only was his profile and reputation enhanced beyond his hometown, but that a third fight is likely there in 2026.
“As soon as I got out the ring, my dad said, ‘You needed that’,” Simpson said of the test by Zucco. “Some fighters need these fights in their career – it’s better for it to happen at this level. A lot of boxes were ticked. I showed I can come back from hitting the canvas and that I’ve got that character – that strength – to overcome adversity, be able to dig deep and come back and get a win like that.
“Stadium fights are a once-a-year opportunity. They’ve got to be done as soon as the [soccer] season finishes; they’ve got time to redo the pitch, etcetera. There’s too much work that goes into it – they’ve got to re-lay the turf.
“It’s been ridiculous. It’s been crazy. Every fight, every few weeks; every few months, it gets bigger and bigger. I had a walk in town [the day after the fight] and people were beeping their cars; chanting out their windows; shouting across the street. I had such a great reception from Barnsley.”