CALLUM SIMPSON’S quest to bring a world title fight to Barnsley continues on Saturday night. The South Yorkshire super-middleweight advances to European level to take on Ivan Zucco for the vacant European title at Oakwell Stadium, home of Barnsley Football Club.
Simpson, 17-0 (12 KOs), has fast become one of Boxxer’s most prized possessions since debuting with Ben Shalom’s promotional firm in 2023, stringing together seven wins in just over two years and building an impressive fanbase.
During that time, Simpson has proven himself to be one of Britain’s top players at 168lbs, with a career-best points win over Zak Chelli securing him the Lonsdale Belt in front of his Barnsley faithful back in August.
After defending the British title with a second-round knockout of Steed Woodall in January, and then banking another stoppage win the following month against Elvis Ahorgah, Simpson now headlines at Oakwell for a second time in what looks set to be his toughest test to date.
In the away corner awaits unbeaten Italian Ivan Zucco, 21-0 (18 KOs), who fights outside of his homeland for the first time as a professional and will hope to both pull off the upset and stretch his knockout streak to five consecutive wins inside the distance.
Although Zucco has yet to fight in the United Kingdom, his most eye-catching victory came against British opposition when he outpointed tough former English champion Germaine Brown back in 2023 in a dominant unanimous-decision win.
The Verbania-born southpaw represents the second lefty that Simpson has faced in his professional career, the other being Farouk Daku, 21-24-1 (9 KOs), and the dangerous straight left-hand possessed by Zucco certainly makes him an intriguing new puzzle for Simpson to solve.
CALLUM SIMPSON VS IVAN ZUCCO FIGHT PREDICTION
Huge for the weight, Simpson must use his physical advantages wisely against Zucco and force the tough Italian to tire down the stretch whilst saving enough in his own tank for the later rounds.
After a competitive first half of the contest, Simpson should begin to find success and time his man during the second half of a physically demanding encounter to claim a unanimous-decision win.
