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.
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