Professional Boxer Mitch Prince lives in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire; however, in stark contrast he was born in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa where he used to watch the big fights on the telly with his dad when he was just a kid, his father was friends with a South African Professional Boxing Champion so Mitch was familiar with the sport from a very young age.

Tragedy struck when his father sadly passed away at a relatively young age of 39 due to a sudden heart attack, “I was traumatized but I think I had it the easiest because my siblings were teenagers”, Mitch said with sincerity, and went on to say, “It affected me badly, I missed a lot of school and ended up being held back a year”. Mitch was only 8 years old when this heartbreaking misfortune happened, he was the youngest of the family by seven years, his family were very tight knit but it never took the pain away because he was so close to his dad.  

At 10 years old Mitch told me he had a cousin who used to take him to a boxing club in Johannesburg and he was enjoying it until they put him in with the local champion, “He leathered me, so the next time my cousin came to pick me up I hid under the bed”, he said, this was his way of discouraging his cousin coming to pick him up. Most young boys will never return to a boxing ring when this happens – but not Mitch. Due to circumstances he moved over to Scotland with his mother when he was 13 and there was still two weeks left on the school curriculum of first year at high school, he was offered the choice to stay at home and start a fresh in 2nd year but decided to attend school so he could make new friends. Mitch has a friendly outgoing personality, this attribute instantaneously made him very popular and he bonded with the bigger crowd. He went along with a group of friends to local boxing club Broadwood in Cumbernauld at 14, “I took to it straight away”. Mitch tried a lot of sports including gymnastics but boxing was the one he fell in love with and at 15 he got his first fight at a home show where he slipped and fell on his way to the ring but managed to stop his opponent in the 1st round, “It was nerve wrecking”.

Mitch would look up to guys in the boxing club who were fighting for amateur titles, “Funnily enough, it was good to meet Ken Buchanan who was friendly with my old coaches Davie McGuire and Kenny Loan”, he continued to say, “I stayed with Broadwood my whole amateur career”. Mitch fought 66 times as an amateur travelling the world boxing for Scotland picking up Gold Medals in Multi-Nation Tournaments in places like Almeria, Spain and as far away as Darwin in Australia, he also picked up Silver Medals and Bronze. His success in International Tournaments secured him his place in Scotland’s Commonwealth Games Team where he returned to Australia to compete in 2006, “I was training up to 4 times a day, I was boxing a good Australian then realised I was using the wrong style and it was too late to pull the score back, it was an excellent learning experience, the best in my life so far”. This was to be the last time Mitch laced his glove’s up as an amateur so I asked him to sum up his experience, “My family were very supportive, mum used to go ballistic watching my fights. Representing Scotland was more than I could ever imagine doing as an amateur but taking part in the Commonwealth Games was a magnificent experience”. 

 It was in 2006 Mitch decided his style of boxing was more suited to the professional game and he turned pro with Glasgow manager and promoter Tommy Gilmour, he moved to Forgewood Boxing Club in Motherwell and got off to a flyer with 4 straight wins over six rounds before the festive period had arrived. Thus heralded the beginning of a long period of time when he fell in and out of love with boxing, sometimes only fighting once a year. He even changed his name by deed pole to Prince of Passion, it began as a laugh with his mate but he now had a cash line card that read the aforementioned name. Mitch admits he didn’t train properly and took fights at the last minute but he was still unbeaten and near the end of 2009 he won the British Masters Light-Welterweight Title. Mitch incurred his only loss to date in 2010 in a Scottish Area Lightweight Title fight that he took without enough notice to properly prepare, “It was a scrappy fight where I received stitches to the back of my head”, Mitch lost on points. It was not long after this fight that Mitch’s trainer Archie McKay sadly passed away at the age of 52, this was devastatingly heartbreaking to everyone that knew Archie and a massive loss to Scottish Boxing. Mitch began an 8 month stretch of semi- retirement, “Archie was a great coach and I could not go back to the gym because there was an awkward eerie silence, it was not the same”.

Jim Love took over as head coach at Foregewood and he was instrumental in reviving Mitch’s passion for the sport and he got back to winning ways that lead to him going on to lift the vacant British Masters Title against Bermondsey boxer Ideh Ochuko, incidentally, this was Jim’s first title success as a pro trainer, “Jim got me working harder than ever, we had trained for ten rounds and I was happy to win on points”. He has come straight off the back of a 1st round stoppage against Bulgarian Radoslav Mitev and looked very comfortable in doing so that in the ring after the referee intervened he stood on his head while balancing himself with his hands after a wee dance round the ring, that has earned him the right to fight for the Light-Welterweight Championship of the Commonwealth against Champion Willie Limond on Friday 7th June at Bellahouston Leisure Centre in Glasgow. I spoke to Mitch about this, “I am buzzing, jumping out my skin with excitement. I am one of the friendliest guys you will ever come across outside the ring; I drastically change once I’m inside the ropes where I get my fighting head on and keep my eyes on the target.  Willie is standing in front of me and many titles to come”. Mitch has known about this fight for 10 weeks, he trains three time a day and spars with the likes of Barry Morrison, Barry Craig, John Simpson, Paul Burns and Craig Docherty.

Mitch was informed about his shot at the Commonwealth Title around the same time as he got engaged to his lovely girlfriend Caroline Rock, she’s a diamond. Since he met Caroline he dropped the name Price of Passion and reverted back to his original so as to avoid the eventuality of his good lady being called Caroline Passion. His favourite movie is Pulp Fiction because it’s got a bit of everything in it, “It’s Crazy, hard to describe, funny, sad and twisted”. He can’t see past the Raging Bull in boxing films and his favourite Rocky movie is Rocky III “There’s some good characters and epic fights”. Mitch is very level headed and draws inspiration from local Scottish boxers Barry Morrison, John Simpson and Ricky Burns because they bring different aspects to the game; his all-time favourite boxer is Diego Corrales, “He was tall, rangy and powerful, he was able to live a normal life outside of boxing, a warrior who didn’t back down from no-one”.

Back to the job in hand, Mitch has no sponsorship but would be very interested to hear from anyone willing to help out; he has been given leave of absence as a joiner by Lovell Homes so he can prepare for the fight of his life. Mitch told me that his trainer Jim Love has been a godsend, he has got him 100% fit and is ready to go 14 rounds if required, “I’m young and hungry for success, this will be an epic fight that no-one will want to miss, it will be a belter”.

Mitch has risen like a phoenix and showed strength of character time and time again, he is physically and mentally prepared to overcome any obstacle that stands between him and his quest to endeavour success.

Mitch is a pure entertainer and if you would like to see him in action please contact him to get your ticket on 07912 963761

Alternatively, you can call the St Andrews Sporting Club 0141 810 5700  

For those of you who have never heard the name Keith Knox lets assimilate ourselves with the Midlothian man who initiated a substantial impact on the sport of boxing back on 22nd May 1999. Keith travelled over the Irish Sea to Belfast to face local man Damien Kelly for the British and Commonwealth Flyweight Title’s at the Maysfield Leisure Centre, as a wee boy Keith dreamed of fighting for titles but his paradoxical dream was alive and almost ready to begin. He was the immense the underdog, Kelly was flying high in the world rankings and Keith openly admits “He was another level from me; to be honest I wasn’t very confident, I felt the fight was way over my head and I was always putting myself down on the night of the fight”. Keith was a natural Flyweight meaning he always fluctuated around his fighting weight; Kelly was naturally a bigger man who had to take a considerable amount of weight off in preparation for a fight and with the weigh-in the day before the fight Kelly could weigh up to a stone heavier than Keith. The two boxers had fought against each other in the amateur ranks while representing their respective countries, “Kelly beat me, I knew he was a classy boxer but I also knew he had a tendency to cut up easily”. Kelly was the taller man and was very fast, who masterly executed his punches with panache. Keith said “I always had the belief something was going to happen”. The opening bell had rang and as the fight progressed Keith noticed Kelly had sustained a small cut to his eye, he said “I kept boxing away putting my heart and soul into every shot, there’s something told me it was now or never”. Kelly picked up another cut and the wee man from Bonnyrigg stuck to his guns and fired away like a Scottish Soldier in the trenches at the Battle of the Somme. His opponent was cutting up all over the place and one cut in particular had opened up that wide the referee had no alternative but to stop the fight in the 6th round and awarded the fight to Keith by way of Technical Knock Out, “I had won The British and Commonwealth Titles, it was a dream come true, I was ecstatic and relieved. It just made everything I had ever worked for feel so good but on boxing ability he would have boxed the head off me all night”.

As a kid Keith used to love watching Barry McGuigan and this was the inspiration behind him travelling to a boxing club in Dalkeith and in the same year at 14 he went along with a pal to Lasswade Boxing Club in Bonnyrigg. Although Keith took 5 o Levels, he used to skip school more often than not, boxing was his pleasure, “I just felt boxing was my thing, like I was meant to do it, I loved training and I loved the smell of the gym”. His mum was dead against her son boxing due to him regularly coming in with black eyes. He eventually wooed his mum into watching him win trophies and every Christmas all he ever wanted was more boxing gear. Bonnyrigg Boxing Club coach Jackie wood who has sadly passed away was the most influential person in Keith’s boxing career, he reminded him of Mickey in the Rocky movies, “He was a great auld guy, he could see my potential and was always egging me on to do better”, and do better he did. Keith won the Eastern district Title every year as a youth and as a senior, he won his first Senior Scottish title in 1990 and continued to do so, I remember boxing on shows with Keith, he was built like a pocket battleship and used to steam right through opponents. In 1992 he went down to the British Championships in England and out of a 12 man Scottish Team he was the only one to win the British ABA Title that year. By this time Keith had a full time job as a butcher and two young kids. He had to use up holidays so he could go away to fight in Internationals, it was all getting a bit too much and something had to give for him to continue doing what he done best. There’s something Keith would like to mention, “In Scotland V England Internationals I only ever lost once”, his only loss was to a boxer called Paul Ingle who went on to win a version of the World Title.            

Tommy Gilmour had approached Keith and suggested that he turned professional. Keith’s mate Willie Quinn recently had turned pro with Tommy but he was a bit unsure having to travel back and forth to Glasgow for training. Willie was being sponsored by a local taxi firm and the butchers Keith worked in; Keith was offered the same sponsorship so he would not have to incur any travel expenses. The initial offer on the table was £1000 a fight “At least I would be getting paid for something I loved doing but I never expected to do anything”. Keith left behind an amateur record that read 120 fights with 90 wins.

Keith’s training routine never changed over the years, he would get up and go for a run around 4 miles in the morning, work as a butcher throughout the day and travel to Glasgow for sparring at nights, his boss would let him leave early so he could make the journey west. When Keith was an amateur he openly admits he was sometimes more interested in going out with his mates to the pub but as a professional he gave it his all while holding down a full time job. After racking up an 8 fight unbeaten run he was matched against Louis Veitch for the vacant Scottish Flyweight Title, “The fight was an eliminator, the winner would be fighting for the British Title”, Keith won this fight by TKO 6th. The venue for the British Title fight was the Elephant & Castle, Southwark, London and his opponent was Mickey Cantwell, “I got robbed, it was all over the papers, the English referee gave it to Cantwell who had done an interview for Sky TV claiming he had lost his house, his job, it was a sob story and everyone fell for it, I lost by half a point. The board agreed it was a bad decision and ordered a rematch but he wouldn’t fight me so he vacated the Title”. Keith got a shot at the European Title against Jesper Jenson in Denmark but lost on points, “You really got to knock them out for a draw over there”. He then fought for the British Title again against stable mate Ady Lewis at the St Andrews Sporting Club in Glasgow “ Ady had moved down to Flyweight, fair enough he got the decision and held onto the title for a wee while”.

Keith fought his way back up the rankings and two years had elapsed before he finally got his shot at Damien Kelly for the British and Commonwealth Flyweight titles in Belfast, “Winning the British Amateur Title was a special moment for me but that night in Belfast was the icing on the cake”.

In Keith’s last fight he fought for the IBO World Title against an American based Columbian Jose Garcia Bernal at the Bellahouston Sports Centre in Glasgow, he lost on a split decision, “The American referee gave the fight to me but the two English judges gave the fight to Garcia, I was gutted but happy at the same time because I had gone the distance. I never expected to get that far in my career as a boxer, sometimes I think about how close I was to winning”. Keith walked away from the game at 32, he did not want to become a journeyman and he wanted to go out on a high.

Keith works as a bus driver these days, his favourite film is Dumber and Dumber, “It’s funny as”, his favourite Rocky movie is Rocky IV, that is quintessentially the greatest of the saga, “Rocky had to fight the Russian on Christmas day, everyone at the pictures stood up”. Keith looks up to boxers such as Muhammad Ali, Jim Watt, Ken Buchanan, Barry McGuigan, Marvin Hagler and the list goes on but his All-time favourite boxer is Sugar Ray Leonard, “He had everything and beat Duran”. His old foe Damien Kelly did go on to win the European Title and IBO World Tile.

His advice to young boxers is simply give it 100% no regrets. He still trains regularly to this day and reckons he will continue to do so until he drops. I’ve known Keith for 30 years and he has never changed a smidgen, an extremely modest, fun loving man who is the best o tartan and if you get him on the subject of boxing he’s there till the battery in phone goes dead.

I asked Keith if he had anything else to say, “If I had the chance I would do it all over again”.

By Raymond Fraser Buchanan

Edinburgh’s Unbeaten Cruiserweight boxer Stephen ‘ Simbo ‘ Simmons next fight will be on May 11th on the Eddie Hearne’s Matchroom Sports Promotions bill, Betfairs ‘Fighting Pride of Scotland’  headlining the bill will be Scotland’s WBO World Champion Ricky Burns. This boxing extravaganza will feature many of Scotland’s most talented fighters. However, Stephen has his eyes fixed firmly on lifting aloft the CELTIC Cruiserweight TITLE against formidable opponent Michael ‘The Storm ‘ Sweeney who hails from County Mayo, Ireland. The venue will be the Emirates Arena, Glasgow, the show will be a sell-out and Simbo will be all-out to make sure the CELTIC TITLE stays in Scotland.

Let me take you back to where it all began for Stephen. His mum and dad split up before he was 5 years old and was brought up in a notoriously rough area of the Capital called Wester Hailes. Primary school was never going to be young Stephen’s forte, “I got thrown out five times for fighting”, he said with a trademark smile, “My brother was the quiet one but if anyone tried to bully me I stuck up for myself ”.  At the age of 12 Stephen had just started to attend Wester Hailes Education Centre, “I was wild and cheeky, my mum always wanted to get me into boxing to control my aggression”, and by chance one of his neighbours Mikey Sangster, who used to box for Edinburgh’s Sparta took him along to local club Clovenstone ABC where he attended classes for three months. His uncle Kenny was right into his boxing and began to take Stephen to a boxing club at the foot of Leith Walk called Leith Victoria. Stephen openly admits he did not get many bouts between the ages of 12 to 17 years old because of his size, “Boxing became a way of controlling and channelling my life in the right direction”.

“As soon as I was 17 years old I started winning titles, boxing for Scotland and I was travelling all over the world”, this was the start of a long illustrious career in the Amateur ranks. After winning 2 District Tiles, 3 Scottish Titles and a British Title, Stephen stopped entering the Scottish because nobody would fight him.

In 2006 Stephen won the British Amateur Title in Ireland but broke his right hand in the final. The Commonwealth Games were taking place in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia that year and he did not want to jeopardize his place in the Scotland Team so he inaudibly withheld this information so he could live the dream. He out boxed his first opponent with the left jab but in the quarter finals against Ghana in a fight he thought he could have won that would guarantee him a medal it was evident he needed both hands to do so “I was really disappointed but decided to stay amateur”. Stephen competed in 3 European Championships and got to the last 16 twice in the World Championships. The lure of fighting in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India 2010 was the motivation behind Stephen’s decision to stay Amateur. Stephen had stayed amateur with the objective of winning Gold in Delhi; this was a realistic, tenable ambition for the Edinburgh boxer. A friend helped procure funding by way of race nights that included a karaoke and a raffle. I attended one of these and I could not help but notice a woman who so fleet footed and fast with her words, she had the pub in the palm of her hands. I asked Stephen who the woman was “That’s my mum”; the words ran through my head, ‘If it was definitely Thursday and she said it was Friday, I would agree’. Stephen was unlucky not to make the final in Delhi but he returned with a Bronze medal, “I was crying in the dressing room and felt gutted for 5 days but on the flight home I realized how much of an achievement it was and testament to all the hard work I had done”.

There was not enough funding for Stephen to stay amateur so he decided to make the move into the professional ranks at the age of 26, “I had to make a living”. He is a very genial, laudable and courteous man who has a smile that almost goes from ear to ear inspiriting a presence of exuberance that is a unique quality in any individual, however, when Stephen ducks between the ropes the smile disappears and fades into an earnest, austere glance of ruinous intent. He has been steadily moving up the ladder and it’s fair to say the transition from amateur to professional has been seamless due to the wealth of experience he has acquired over the years.

Stephens Uncle Kenny has been with him every step of the way and has had an extensive influence on him. His father lives in Sunderland and comes to watch all his professional fights. He is managed by Scotland’s Alex Morrison and more recently been trained by top boxing trainer Danny Vaughan – who also trains Derry Mathews. Stephens’s training regime consists of travelling to Glasgow Monday to Friday where he works on the bags, pads and sparring with David Brophy and Barry Connell, he also does track running at Glasgow’s Velodrome 3 days a week. He has really gelled with Danny, working on a technique that has improved his power punching explicitly where in his last fight at the Gorbals Leisure Centre in Glasgow Stephen had his Serbian opponent Jovan Kaludjerovic down twice before a pulverizing blow put his man down and out for the count of 10 in the 2nd round.

He talks about his mother with enormous admiration, she has been very supportive in what her son has chose to do as a profession, “Mum has done an excellent job in raising the family, I could have went the wrong way but she is living proof that kids grow up and make their own choices”.

None of us like to admit it but Stephen wears his heart on his sleeve and admits he has tears in his eyes when he watches the movie The Champ, and on this subject his favourite Rocky movie is Rocky II, "I Love watching it, it’s very inspirational and it's great how he comes back and beats Apollo Creed”. His favourite boxer is Iron Mike Tyson, “He came from a rough back ground and done something with his life – he could have  gone the wrong way, but became Heavyweight Champion of the World".

Hardest opponents to date, “Egor Mekhotsev, he was a Russian guy, 2 times world and European Champion – he’s also the Olympic Champion”, who’s the biggest name you’ve beat? “I beat this Cuban boxer called Osmay Acosta before the 2008 Olympics, he went on to lift the Olympic Bronze and the year after he won another bronze in the World Championships”.

Stephen is lucky he has good sponsorship from Edinburgh’s J&I Scaffolding, Woods roofing and Shooka Bootcamp who are based in South Devon, he is also moving up the ladder working with Herbalife.

He recently got engaged to his to his stunning girlfriend Nicole and has a boy of 6 years old who is also called Stephen. His son watches his dads fights on the I Phone and said, “Daddy, I want to be a boxer”, Stephen would prefer he didn’t want to box but would totally support his son in whatever he chooses to do.

“Having a positive attitude and not getting involved with the wrong people. I’ve always kept a level head, positive mind and I don’t get involved in other people’s problems”, these are the principals that Stephen installs and nothing will alter this young man’s crusade.

Stephens Simmons is a veritable Professional with high hopes of making a big impact on the Professional scene, he genuinely is a Scottish Lion in the Boxing ring and I asked him about his upcoming fight, “I love fighting in Scotland in front of home fans – it’s a great buzz, there’s going to be a capacity crowd of 9000, I’m really excited”, I also solicited the question and more so a statement on how the fight will go and he accentuated “I do my talking with my fists, I do my talking in the ring”.

Tickets for Betfair’s ‘Fighting Pride of Scotland’ are on sale now. Tickets are priced £40 upper tier, £60 lower tier and floor seats, £100 ringside and £200 VIP (all tickets subject to booking fee). Tickets are available through the Emirates Arena at www.emiratesarena.co.uk, Matchroom Boxing atwww.matchroomboxing.com and by phone on 0141 353 8000.