Callum Simpson ready to keep cool head fighting in front of 7,000 fans

For most fighters, headlining their favorite team’s football stadium is the culmination of a lifelong dream and years of hard work both inside and outside of the ring. 

The pressure of carrying a major event is a constant burden which some fighters deal with better than others but when the night itself does arrive, it creates a series of events that are impossible to rehearse for and which all pose a real risk of distracting the fighter from the task at hand.

Fight day will be as long, nerve-wracking and boring as any other but once they jump into the back of the car which will take them to the fight, the familiar can quickly become very unfamiliar.

As the car winds its way towards the stadium – along streets they walk and drive along every day – it is impossible for the fighter to ignore the scenes playing out around them.

Rather than chanting about their team’s center forward, in a few short hours the fans crowding the pavements and standing outside the pubs will be singing their name. 

As the car sweeps into the stadium car park, they are ushered into an executive bay and welcomed by fans who usually hang around waiting to see their favorite player arrive. Instead of queuing up at their usual turnstile and taking their normal spot on the terracing, they are welcomed into the main entrance and then escorted to the home dressing room.

And that is before the ring walk offers them a previously unseen perspective of their favorite stadium.

Callum Simpson, 14-0 (10 KOs), will go through all of those moments before he fights British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion, Zak Chelli, 15-2-1 (7 KOs), at Barnsley’s Oakwell Stadium on Saturday night, but he will have an experienced head alongside him to guide him through them. 

Simpson’s trainer, Mark Hurley, likes to go about his work quietly and away from the spotlight but he has been involved in plenty of major nights and was an important part of Josh Warrington’s team when Warrington expertly shouldered the expectation of a large, passionate fan base and outfought Lee Selby to win the IBF featherweight title at Leeds United’s home, Elland Road.

As well as preparing Simpson for the physical and technical challenges the awkward Chelli will pose, Hurley has been getting the 27-year-old ready for the unique challenges a home stadium fight poses.

“That were an amazing night when Josh won the world title against Lee Selby at Elland Road. Mark was in Josh’s corner for a lot of fights. He’s been in a big stadium fight and lots of big nights at Leeds Arena,” Simpson told BoxingScene. “Mark’s very experienced. He likes to stay out of the limelight and do his thing behind the scenes. I’ve sat down with him and we’ve talked about the occasion and how it may or may not affect me.

“We’re both very confident that I’ve got a cool head. I’m very relaxed and if anything it’ll bring the best out in me rather than affecting me. We’re both agreed on that. I’ve fought on big shows now and I’ve been to a few stadium shows to get the atmosphere and the feeling. I don’t think the occasion will get to me at all.”

Simpson will need to keep his cool amid the chaos on Saturday night. 

Hurley – who is also a renowned strength and conditioning coach – is a major proponent of training the brain as well as the body but doesn’t restrict his work to long chats or repeating mantras. Hurley quietly incorporates aspects of mental training into his conditioning circuits and likes his fighters to be able to think calmly and clearly while they are at the center of a storm. 

“I keep telling him we should play chess between rounds but I think he’s scared I’ll beat him,” Simpson laughed. “We do some memory drills. We’ll work the circuits and he’ll give me a task to think of inbetween to give me that cognitive work and it’s training me to remember key information when you’re tired. He’s very philosophical, Mark. We’ve done a lot of mental work together.”

Simpson also sees this weekend as something of a dress rehearsal for even bigger nights in the future. There will be 7,000 fans in attendance on Saturday but he is confident that the event will be such a success that things will scale up dramatically from here. 

“Boxxer didn’t expect it to sell how it’s sold. It’s risk-reward. They could have put 20,000 tickets on but what if I didn’t sell? It was a big risk from Boxxer in the first place. At least we know where we’re at now. Beat Chelli and we can keep on pushing. We’ll get it sold out next year.”

Callum Simpson faces Zak Chelli for the British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles live on Sky Sports in the UK and NBC’s Peacock on August 3rd.