Simpson stops Woodall in emotional title victory

Callum Simpson halted Steed Woodall to defend his British and Commonwealth super-middleweight titles on an emotional night in Sheffield.

Simpson was boxing for the first time since the death of his sister, who passed away tragically young at the age of 19.

The name of Lily-Rae Simpson was emblazoned on his shorts and robe when he arrived to make his entrance at the Canon Medical Arena.

Thousands of his supporters had gathered round to roar the Barnsley man into the ring with deafening cheers that reached an even louder crescendo when Simpson forced the finish.

At the first bell Woodall was unfazed by the boos that welcomed him and he tagged Simpson with arching right crosses in the first round, the kind of sharp punching that showed how dangerous he could be.

The Birmingham challenger found accurate shots in the early going of the opening round.

But when Simpson put a combination together, he generated a great cheer.

He fired his right through and slammed a stiff straight left in after it. He sank left hooks into Woodall’s body, angling them in viciously.

Directing Woodall to the ropes, he rattled his head with a cluster of shots. Simpson clocked him again with his cross and pressed Woodall further in the second round.

He trapped Woodall on the ropes and a searing combination saw him batter the challenger to the canvas. He mingled right uppercuts into a sequence of blows, a finishing left hook-right hook blast putting the Birmingham man over.

Simpson continued to tear into Woodall, although the challenger was bravely looking to fight back. He wanted to continue but the referee intervened to end it at 1:56 of the second round.