Stephen Simmons To Challenge Noel Gevor On Oct 14 In Hamburg

By Elliot Foster

Stephen Simmons has been handed a title opportunity on the back of his latest win.

The ‘Monster’, from Scotland, will have to travel next Friday but is set to box for a belt that will get him a handy world ranking.

Simmons, 15-1 (7 KOs), comes up against Noel Gevor (21-0, 10 KOs) with the Armenian’s WBO International cruiserweight title at stake, less than two weeks after retiring opponent Lars Buchholz in the third of 10 scheduled rounds in Glasgow, exclusively live on BoxNation.

The card, which this fight tops, takes place on October 14 and is being staged by Sauerland Event at the Inselparkhalle in Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg.

‘Simbo’, who is a former holder of the WBC International Silver and Celtic belts in the 200-pound division, was set to face Oleksandr Usyk, the current WBO king, for the WBO Inter-Continental belt before the Ukrainian challenged for global honours.

However, that fight fell through and Simmons was sidelined a little longer.

Gevor won the vacant belt last September, outpointing Daniel Alejandro Sanabria over 10 rounds, and has had two successful defences, both of which have been 10-round points wins over Valery Brudov and Cristian Javier Medina, respectively.

“This is a massive fight and a huge opportunity for me,” Simmons said of the fight. “After the Usyk fight fell through I’ve been waiting for something like this and now I’m ready to take it.

“The short notice won’t make a difference on the outcome, I’ve been training hard throughout the summer and I’m ready. I’m already on the weight due to my recent fight and now it’s all about [taking the chance offered to me on the night],” he said.

This represents a real chance for Simmons to gate-crash the world scene, one which MGM, his management team, are confident he can pull off.

“We are under no illusions of how tough this fight will be,” the management outfit opined. “However, we have full confidence in Stephen’s ability. These opportunities don’t present themselves every day, it will be tough, his toughest test so far, but we firmly believe he will have his arm raised in victory.”