Exciting prospect Callum Simpson impresses on ring return

The referee stopped the fight in round three after Simpson devastated his opponent with a plethora of ferocious punches, jabs and uppercuts, for which Van Poetsch had no answer.

Simpson is now aiming to build up his boxing reputation, with his record now standing at four wins – one by a first round knock-out – and no losses.

Simpson’s trainer, Mark Hurley, who runs the increasingly influential Dicky’s Gym, in Batley, believes his fighter is one of the most exciting prospects in British boxing.

He cited the fact that Kevin Maree, who is the head of Maree boxing and has been a mainstay in British and Irish Boxing for decades, having worked with multiple champions over the years, described the 24-year-old as a hot prospect.

He said: “After seeing him fight live, Kevin Maree said Callum is the biggest British boxing prospect at present.

“Coming from such a well respected individual who has some of the best boxers under his wing, it really is some compliment.

“Lewis Van Poetsch also got in touch after the fight and said that no-one usually does what Callum did to him in the fight and said he was going to do really well in the sport.

“It was a really good performance from Callum and he fought how I expected.”

Simpson is pleased with the progress he is making and is now aiming to fight for some major titles in 2022.

He commented: “I am looking forward to the next fight as I trained well for my fight and made good use of the time I had to prepare for the contest.

“And although the fight against Lewis Van Poetsch was not for a title, I’ll hopefully be boxing for titles next year.”

Dicky’s Gym where Simpson trains, is renowned for producing some of the toughest fighters in the country and Callum is the latest to be honing his skills in Batley.

Josh Warrington famously used the backstreet Batley gym as a base as he made his way up the ranks from English champion to British, Commonwealth, European, WBC interim and finally world title success.