Callum Simpson has admitted he has “no respect” for Troy Williamson ahead of their long-awaited rematch on August 8 in Leeds, England.
Simpson suffered the first defeat of his professional career when Williamson stopped him in the 11th round of their first meeting last December, surrendering his British super middleweight title in the process.
The victory earned Williamson a mandatory shot at the vacant IBF world title, but he was unable to accept the offer due to a rematch clause with Simpson. Williamson was then frustrated again when an injury to Simpson caused their rematch to be pushed back, and was further annoyed when he was denied a ‘keep-busy’ fight on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s return in April.
That led Williamson to take out his frustration on Simpson and promoter Ben Shalom on social media. However, Simpson claims he has deliberately kept his focus on his own preparations and says his respect for his former opponent has disappeared.
“For me it’s not personal, I’ve respected Troy before, I’ve got no respect for him this time,” Simpson told BoxingScene. “It’s not his birthday, it’s not Christmas, I’m giving him nothing. I just can’t wait for the 8th of August now to come and put that wrong right.
“I’ve been letting him run his mouth on socials, I’ve just kept myself to myself, I’ll do my talking in the ring. He’s saying all these delays that have happened, but the only thing that delayed the rematch was him announcing a fight [on Fury’s undercard]. How can any broadcaster or any promoter put a show on when the fighter’s got a fight a few weeks before? So yeah, I’m letting him run with that narrative, whatever, it’s up to him.”
Simpson has also been refreshingly honest about what went wrong the first time around.
“Getting punched,” he joked. “I opened the cards and got a little bit complacent. I just got caught with a good shot, but I’m not going to go into it too much. There’s a lot that I’ve worked on, a lot to improve and you’re going to see that on the 8th of August as well.”
The 29-year-old believes he made the mistake of allowing Williamson’s strengths to dictate the fight, rather than boxing to his own abilities. Simpson has since teamed up with renowned trainer Robert McCracken who also spearheads the Great Britain boxing squad.
“I think that Troy’s known for how tough he is, fit he is and he can fight,” Simpson said. “I just kind of let it play a bit too much into his hands and kind of fought his fight. Even though I love to do that, I can do that, I can also box as well.
“I met Rob [McCracken], had a chat with him, had a conversation and there were a lot of things he thought he could improve and change in my style. I agreed with him and then I went down for a session. Since then I’ve come along a lot and just his wealth of experience and what he’s done, super middleweight as well with Carl Froch, one of the best, most decorated we’ve had, one of the best from Great Britain, and then obviously with [Anthony] Joshua as well. He’s had some great fighters.”
