Callum Simpson returns to Barnsley's Oakwell Stadium looking to lean on past experiences
Lewis Watson 
When you think of stadium fighters in boxing you probably wouldn't put Callum Simpson at the top of your list.
And when you think of stadiums for fighters, Barnsley's Oakwell would arguably be further down that list...
But the unbeaten 28-year-old, and favourite with the betting sites on Saturday, is cooking up something quite special in South Yorkshire, as he heads to his football club's home stadium for the second time inside 10 months, taking on Ivan Zucco.
Free Bets boxing expert Lewis Watson looks ahead to Saturday's big clash.
Stadium fights are becoming part and parcel of a boxer's bucket list in the UK.
Selhurst Park, Goodison Park, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Portman Road and even Stevenage's Lamex Stadium have been used to host pro boxing over the past few years, and Nottingham's Leigh Wood has recently told freebets.com that he would hate to retire without headlining inside his beloved City Ground.
But against the unbeaten Italian Ivan Zucco, it's Simpson that will carry the flag of the stadium fighters again this weekend. After selling an impressive 7,000 tickets for his fight against Zak Chelli at Oakwell last August, Simpson and BOXXER are looking to push closer to 15,000 this Saturday night for the vacant EBU title.
“Zucco is in the same spot that I was in when I fought Zak Chelli," Simpson told The Ring Magazine. "One minute you're fighting on small hall shows and in leisure centres, the next minute you're in arenas. The next minute you're in stadiums. It’s pretty crazy. It moves fast.”
"It is definitely a character test [fighting in a stadium]. You don't know until you're in that position. You can think, “Oh, it's not going to affect me” or you might well be nervous but until you walk out and there's thousands of people shouting your name like I had, you just don't know.
“This time, it's going to be up to 15,000 so we'll see. I'm expecting him to take it well. I’m going to try and assume that he's going to get in there as the best version of himself and that the big crowd will spur him on."
A win for Simpson would catapult his career in the 168-pounds division further north. He is currently ranked at number 8 in the WBA's super-middleweight rankings, and Saturday's contest will cap off an impressive run of activity — five fights within 15 months.
But Zucco is no slouch, and despite heading to Oakwell as a 9/2 underdog, the 22-0 Italian has some good recent experience on the road winning in Spain and Switzerland.
Simpson is quickly building a name for himself in what has famously been a glamour division in the UK. Names like Chris Eubank Jr., Nigel Benn, Joe Calzaghe, George Groves, Carl Froch, James DeGale and Callum Smith have all lit up the division selling out huge fights in huge stadiums.
Oakwell is Simpson's home, but a few more impressive wins and the 28-year-old could well spearhead BOXXER's stable into the next generation. Where bigger and better things await.
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