Simpson Smith and Burns Martinez previews

Stephen Smith will be seeking to uphold his family's unprecedented run of success when he fights John Simpson at Kelvin Hall on Saturday.

The Scouser and his three brothers, Callum, Liam and Paul, swept the board as amateurs, and are threatening to do the same as professionals.

Older brother Paul already holds the British super-middleweight title, and is being lined up for world level.

Now it is Stephen's turn to break into the big time.

But he faces a tough challenge - Simpson is a formidable domestic operator who has never been stopped and gets better with every fight.

He may have lost six times, but the defeats were rarely straightforward, and with a passionate crowd behind him, the Glaswegian will take some beating.

Smith fancies his chances though, despite having had less professional fights than Simpson has had title contests.

The 24-year-old, who won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, has oozed class since turning over in 2008.

He may only have fought journeyman, but has looked several notches above the opposition in recording 10 straight wins.

Taking on Simpson is a big step up, but Andy Morris had only had 12 fights when he out-boxed the Scotsman in 2005.

Smith, with his amateur pedigree, is confident that he will win, and says the fight will serve as a springboard to greater success in the next 12 months.

Victory on Saturday, should lead straight to a British title shot, after the BBBofC made the Simpson fight an official eliminator for the Lonsdale belt.

But if that is incentive for Smith, it should also be a carrot to Simpson.

A former British title holder, he is still smarting over a narrow points defeat against Paul Appleby two years ago which saw him relieved of his Lonsdale belt.

Since then, Simpson has captured the Commonwealth title with back to back victories over Paul Truscott, defending successfully against Stephen Bell last year.

At 27, he's coming into his own, and with a 21-6 (9) record, has the kind of experience that Smith is lacking.

Having already completed 12 rounds on five occasions, and trained for the distance another six times, Simpson will be able to dig deep if the going gets tough.

Quite simply, will Smith?

The challenger will take heart from the performance of another Liverpudlian, Derry Mathews, who out-pointed Simpson in a bloody brawl in 2007.

But Mathews was forced to get off the floor early on, and was flattered by what looked like generous scoring.

With both boxers compact, come-forward types, it's hard to see this one being anything other than a classic.

It's a pick 'em affair, and plumping for a winner will depend on whether you prefer pedigree or experience.
http://www.frankwarren.tv/boxing/index.php/latest-news/news-stories/599-simpson-smith-preview.html

Ricky Burns has the toughest fight of his career - and the opportunity of a lifetime - on Saturday night in Glasgow.

First the opportunity.

Roman Martinez's WBO super-featherweight title is up for grabs at Kelvin Hall.

A win will lead to the kind of riches Burns could only dream of a few years ago.

There are some good fights to be made at 130 pounds, and not only will Burns inherit the WBO strap with a win, he will have toppled a man currently rated as the best super-featherweight in the world.

But it is the Puerto Rican's status that makes the fight the hardest Burns has ever had.

Martinez (24-0-1) is undefeated, stopped Nicky Cook in four rounds in Manchester to win the title, and is growing increasingly powerful with every passing month.

His two title defences since that Cook victory have been won inside the distance, and he is a bigger puncher than anyone Burns has faced before.

Yet Burns does have the tools to defeat bangers - a slick boxer with a decent chin, the current Commonwealth super-featherweight champion is a willo-the-wisp type fighter who ran rings around then British lightweight champion Graham Earl when he was still a novice.

Under new coach Billy Nelson he has developed his offensive skills as well, and says he is now as confident boxing of the front foot as he is the back.

He'll need all his defensive nous against Martinez, who showed against Cook just how dangerous he can be.

Behind in that fight, Martinez had been out-boxed for the first three rounds, and hurt in the fourth.

But he found the punch to upset Cook, who folded dramatically in Manchester.

Martinez - who like his opponent is 27 and probably at his peak - knows how to win on foreign soil, and will have happy memories of coming to the UK.

Yet coming to Scotland will be a very different experience to the north west of England.

Kelvin Hall, with its sense of history, will not be an easy place for an away fighter to be, especially as Burns is well-liked in Glasgow.

A passionate crowd could buy Burns (28-2) a couple of rounds, and if the fight goes down to the wire, home advantage could be crucial.

Burns' promoter Frank Warren is a big believer in fighting in front of your own fans, and it was no surprise that he dug deep to bring the contest to Scotland.

He was helped by the fact Burns was mandatory challenger to Martinez, having patiently worked his way up the rankings.

It's a far cry from Burns' early career, when as a young man he lost to Alex Arthur in a challenge for the European title, and was then out-pointed by Carl Johansson in a British title fight.

Worryingly, that reverse against Johansson saw Burns on the floor from body shots, a punch that Martinez has been working on.

Burns, however, says he has matured vastly since those two defeats.

We will see just how much on Saturday.
http://www.frankwarren.tv/boxing/index.php/latest-news/news-stories/598-burns-martinez-preview.html

 

Well when this fight was first made it was more or less dedlock both 5/6 now Simpson is a clear favourite so I would say that longer you leave it the shorter Simpson will go.