Simpson vs Williamson Result: ‘Trojan’ walks out with trio of titles

Troy Williamson scored the most stunning of upsets at the Leeds First Direct Bank Arena on Saturday, December 20. The new British, Commonwealth and European champion knocked out crowd favourite Callum Simpson in 10 scintillating rounds.

Read on for your Simpson vs Williamson Betfred Insights fight report.

Williamson put Simpson through a nightmare before Christmas in Leeds, shocking another favourite to take home championships he was told he couldn't win. First, it was English champion Mark Dickinson. Tonight was Simpson's reckoning at the hands of the 'Trojan'.

The first two minutes of the opening round saw Simpson boxing like everyone tells him to. He used his long frame to keep Williamson on the end of his jab, uncorking a couple of rights on the challenger. But that warrior spirit got the better of Simpson, whose penchant for inside fighting saw some rough ripostes from Troy.

Williamson picked up the pace in the second, eating a meaty right hook for his troubles. The battling pride of Darlington struck back with one of his own before all-out war broke out along the ropes. A right hook on the temple irked Simpson, who got involved with some tasty uppercuts. 

A Simpson uppercut in the third opened a furious exchange of thunder across the ropes. Backed by his Barnsley army, Callum got the best of the exchange but ate more than his fair share in return. A similar assault from Williamson was smothered, as Simpson closed out the round on top. 

A looping Simpson right was the best shot of a messy fourth. Williamson got a telling off for pressing his forearms into Simpson’s face. The fifth round saw the Yorkshire favourite unleash hooks with both fists to the crowd’s delight. More sickening shots came as Simpson backed his man up into the corner. The punches were beginning to sit less comfortably on the reddening face of ‘Trojan’.

Simpson danced to open the sixth, with the ever-present threat of a stalking Williamson yet to be fully neutralised. Of course, there remained furious exchanges to be had. One such flashpoint along the ropes belonged to the hooks of Simpson. 

Williamson swung bravely in the seventh, with Simpson taunting in return. The champ took a looping right partly on the back of his head. The lack of clean work from Williamson was becoming a theme. The referee gave both fighters a talking-to to open the eighth, though given his indignant reaction one assumes much of the stern diatribe was directed Troy’s way. A huge right hook was more like it from the challenger. Williamson dictated the pace of the round with intelligent pressure, though following another right in with his head did little to endear him to both crowd and official.

A quiet ninth belonged to Williamson, whose right hooks lived long in the memory. The 10th threatened a Simpson breakthrough, with Williamson weary under fire. But then he struck back, sending Simpson to the canvas. Shades of Ivan Zucco. 

Simpson suffered and struggled, spitting out his mouthpiece and looking out on his feet under brutal fire. Simpson went down again after taking more than any man justifiably should. For a third and then fourth time he went down. Mercifully it was to be the last. 

The star of Simpson had risen unstoppably in a banner 2025. But sometimes, stars fall. From beloved in Barnsley to conquering Europe, it has been quite the journey. But tonight was Williamson's night. The 34-year-old keeps getting written off. But every time, he defies the odds. A well-deserved night of achievement for one of British boxing's battlers. But Simpson is one of those too and one feels he will come again.

Kent welterweight Elliot Whale took just six rounds of a scheduled 10 to break down the slick late replacement, Ashlee Eales, in the co-main event. The Sidcup slugger had been set for a tough test against fringe contender Blair Cobbs, who withdrew on Thursday through illness.

Eales, who was preparing for a fight on the undercard, gave a good account of himself. The switch-hitter did his best work in his natural southpaw shape in the first. But he was soon stuck behind the schooled lefts of Whale.

The body attack began to take hold in the third, when Eales hit the canvas with 10 seconds to go. The underdog borrowed the some Prince Naseem tricks in the fourth, but he was in the wrong part of Yorkshire to emulate a Sheffield legend. Whale’s left uppercuts to the head rocked him in the fifth, before a cruncher of a left hook put Eales down again.

It was all Whale from there, with Eales only having shoulder rolls left before he was expertly ground down. Up to 13-0 with eight knockouts, Whale looks capable of doing some real damage in the domestic 147-pound division. Eales, now 11-2, deserves another big night after taking this on 24-hour’s notice.

Commonwealth gold medalist Sam Hickey had too much for plucky import Aljaz Venko, winning over six rounds at middleweight. ‘Tricky’ made a handy start, dropping the squat Slovenian in the first round. Venko stalked throughout, throwing punches in bunches up close.

But the fight was Hickey’s, as the 25-year-old looked wise beyond his three pro contests. The Scotsman dropped Venko again in the fourth after expertly breaking his man’s guard with the jab. But Venko’s will was slower to fracture and he was still swinging at the final bell of a fun contest. The newly 4-0 Hickey has a bright future ahead, but 7-8-1 Venko can take heart from his display.

Leeds met Barnsley in the second of two Yorkshire derbies on the card. Ellis Ward’s grit and speed were not enough to save his ‘0’. It was Jake Jon Cleary who remained unbeaten after six special rounds at welterweight. 

Leeds brought the speed, with Ward taking the first couple of rounds with a languid style built on a low-slung left and short hooks. A messy third favoured Cleary, the natural pressure fighter of the pair. The Wombwell fighter kept the pedal to the metal in the fourth, though a switch to southpaw saw Ward get some body hooks home.

The fifth and sixth were where this contest was won and lost. Furious fists enveloped by cacophonous noise. A big left hook in the fifth seemed to hurt Ward, who took two more while dancing in the sixth. You don’t get that on Strictly. There was just a point in it at the finish, with Cleary winning 58-57. Ward falls to 5-1 while Cleary climbs to 5-0. How about a rematch over 10 rounds, lads?

Tom Rafferty, little brother of world-ranked super lightweight Jack, finished Wales’ Lewis Howells in the last of four rounds at super middleweight. The Oldham lad launched early pressure, with Howells having enough head movement to avoid the worst of it. 

In the second, an overhand right drew an appreciative nod from the underdog. When Rafferty landed two more, Howells was less congenial. The third round took on a cat-and-mouse feel, but this Tom caught up with his Jerry and landed some punishing hooks. A similar barrage would end the fight in the fourth, as Rafferty moved to 16-0 with six knockouts while Howells dropped to 3-5.

Cory Sagar moved to 5-0 (all points) in a tough scrap with Joe Hardy, in the evening’s first Barnsley vs Leeds battle. The 5-42 campaigner is the man you call for these tests, with his last 11 opponents coming in with unbeaten records. Stopped just four times in 42 defeats, Hardy is durable to say the least. 

So he proved here, though Sagar’s educated left kept him honest in the first. But the journeyman forced the issue in the second, showing veteran tricks in abundance before nicking the round along the ropes late. But Sagar controlled his man with the jab in the third before surviving some hairy moments, and a Hardy switch to southpaw, to skate through via points decision.

Images: Chris Dean for BOXXER

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