One of the surprises of the excellent Braehead Arena card, in Glasgow, on Friday night was that a cruiserweight clash went ten rounds!
The eagerly awaited clash between Stephen Simmons and Wadi Camacho for the WBC International Silver title, had threatened to become something of a war after a tirade of pre-fight words almost boiled over.
In the trade of insults, before the fight, Camacho had, apparently, insulted Simmons wife and at the weigh-in the war of words continued almost resulting in a brawl erupting in the local shopping centre.
Both boxers entered the ring intent on hurting the other but Camacho had the better of the early exchanges with Simmons, seemingly, intent on trying to make every punch a knockout punch.
As we entered the final three rounds Camacho was ahead on points and it looked as if the Scot needed three exceptional rounds to take the verdict. Camacho appeared to be tiring quickly and the end was to come in the 10th round when a flurry of punches left Camacho reeling and the fight was stopped.
Following his success, Simmons shed some light on the pre-fight bad blood remarking,
‘He said he wants to draw a line under everything and apologise to Nicole and me for the stuff that was said.?
‘That?s fine by me. I am happy to meet him and hear him out. He tried to get under my skin and that is okay, but it became far too personal and out of order.?
‘I am proud of myself that I didn?t lose my cool and let him affect me. But my corner told me I was losing the fight and needed to pick up the pace.?
‘I don?t know if they were saying that just to get me going but I had too much heart and desire to lose’
Following his success there is talk of Simmons meeting Ozil McKenzie but here in the Vital Boxing editorial chair I?m thinking that fight, with the big-puncher, might be lest left on the back-burner for the future with Simmons showing that he, despite being unbeaten, has a lot to learn.
Simmons Wins Grudge Match
