Boxing: Simmons joy at GB call-up

Published on Thursday 6 August 2009 10:17

LEITH VICTORIA'S Scottish amateur heavyweight champion Steve Simmons admitted that he was "absolutely chuffed to bits'' after being told he is in the British squad for the World Amateur boxing championships in Milan.

The tournament gets underway on 31 August, and Simmons said: "I had to come through a tough training and assessment camp in Dublin last week where I had to spar with the Irish heavyweight champion and guys from Azerbaijan and France and now next week I head out to Bourget, France, to spar with some of Cuba's top heavyweights which will let me see first hand just how tough the opposition in Milan is.

"A great deal of the credit for my selection must go to my uncle, Kenny Simmons, whose weight training programme aimed at restoring my hitting power worked a treat as I was visibly hurting some of the guys with whom I was sparring."

Meanwhile, the Holyrood club's Scottish senior bantamweight champion Gareth Stemp has accepted a challenge from his Scottish junior bantam titleholding counterpart, Glasgow Dennistoun's Joe Ham.

"Ham will be boxing in Poland next week for a European youth title," said Stemp. "I hope he comes back as the European youth champion as it will give me an even bigger incentive to beat him when we box in a charity show on 16 September.''