Callum Simpson driving groundswell of support for Zak Chelli fight in Barnsley

Callum Simpson will be the focus of the type of event that established, top-level operators spend years building towards when he faces British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion Zak Chelli on Aug. 3 at Oakwell in Barnsley, England.

Such has been the rise of the 27-year-old Simpson (14-0, 10 KOs) that it’s easy to forget he will be the challenger on the night.

If the decision makers at Boxxer and Sky Sports didn’t immediately realize what they were getting into when they decided to take the fight to Simpson’s hometown, their first clue came when the 1,500 capacity Metrodome was instantly dismissed as being too small for the event.

Their second clue came when Simpson’s team insisted on taking the fight to Oakwell Stadium, home of the town’s Barnsley Football Club.

It is a massive show of faith to build such an event around a relatively inexperienced fighter such as Simpson, but if the powers that be were waiting nervously for the first indications about how well ticket sales were going, they needn’t have worried.

Chelli (15-2-1, 7 KOs) and Simpson will fight in front of the East Stand of the famous old stadium, where 7,000 fans will be in attendance. That isn’t an estimated figure or promotional hoopla – already, there isn’t a spare ticket to be found anywhere in South Yorkshire.

“We knew. They’re saying it sold out in three days, but that’s not quite right,” Simpson’s manager, Kevin Maree, told BoxingScene. “The first day was season ticket holders, the second day was priority and the third was general sale. If they’d put that show out on general sale from the start, it would have been sold out in an hour. Even on the day when tickets were only available to season ticket holders, they were getting inundated with calls from people desperate to get tickets.

“We were down at the ground on the day it was launched doing a photoshoot with Chelli. The football club were telling us that it was madness and wondering what the hell was going on.

“We told Sky that we didn’t think they understood what his fanbase is like. We’ve been down to London twice and told them that as much as we love being on the shows, we couldn’t come to London again. It started to snowball then. They were wondering if it was too soon for the football club. No.”

These days, it seems like almost every promising boxer talks about headlining an event at the home of their favorite football club. Some – like Tony Bellew and Chris Billam-Smith – are genuine fans who were handed over the turnstiles as children and can reel off lists of obscure former players. For others, the idea is clearly a more opportunistic venture.

Maree signed Simpson in the summer of 2021 and quickly began describing him as the future of boxing. Unearthing a talented fighter to maneuver through the rankings is one thing; realizing that that fighter has a large fanatical support who will follow him in droves and eventually provide him with leverage in negotiations is quite another.

“He’s not a gimmick. A lot of lads these days go to their local football club and ask if they can walk out onto the pitch and say that they’ve been a fan of the club for years. You can smell a rat straight away,” Maree said. “Callum’s grandad was a season ticket holder. His dad’s a season ticket holder. Callum’s a season ticket holder and goes to away games. He’s got a board at the ground where they’ve put a photo up of him and written, ‘He’s one of our own’ on it. Everybody knows him. If a lad’s going to try and do it with a football club, it can’t be fake. It has to be real and organic, and Callum’s got that at Barnsley. He’s going to have a Ricky Hatton-type fanbase, I’m telling you.”

Simpson has made great strides since agreeing to a promotional deal with Boxxer and Spy Sports early in 2023. He reeled off four victories during his first year with the promotional outfit, boxing to orders as he racked up invaluable rounds of experience.

Simpson has also become a regular face during live broadcasts and grown increasingly confident in front of the cameras. But away from the lights and attention, he and his trainer, Mark Hurley, have continued to go about their business quietly and diligently. 

Maree already believes that Simpson is one of the country’s brightest talents and he is expecting him to prove it against Chelli and announce himself in spectacular fashion. 

“He’s incredible,” Maree said. “The amount of people who spar with Callum and then say afterwards that he’s scary-good. He’s gonna get it right on the night one day and people are going to go, ‘Oh my God.’

“I don’t think Mark Hurley gets anywhere near the credit he should be getting for the quality of boxers he’s producing at the moment, with Jasmina Zapotoczna and Callum. Mark is a proper, proper boxing guy. He’s behind the scenes. He’s not a reflective glory seeker. How many photos do you see of Mark? Callum Simpson might not have the belts I believe he’s going to get yet, but he’s still arguably one of the most high-profile boxers in the country. People won’t know who his trainer is.

“Chelli could be in for a rough old night on Aug. 3, because [Callum is] ready to go. We’ve got the camp right. Callum lives the life, and you couldn’t design a better person in terms of how they approach the sport in and out of the ring. On Aug. 3, he’s going to be launched.”