BoxRec

I scored it a draw and wouldn't have argued had it gone either way.

Had Smith up by one after four and had it level after eight.

To be honest, a fight such as that will only make Smith a better fighter in the long run. It's hard to look good against a canny operator like Simpson.

To this day, i've never seen a more complete debut showing than Smith's against Shaun Walton two years ago. Brilliant.

I nodded off after the 9th. Which isn't meant to be insightful, sarcastic or otherwise judgemental - its just what happened and was testimony to the rigours of parenthood. I awoke to the decision.

However, I had Smith one up(ish) after 8-9 rounds.

Swifty did well and will grow from this test but I'd have liked to see him make his speed pay for longer.

Lenny wrote:Smith looked okay, I thought he nicked a close one but his lack of work up close was alarming. In my opinion he had the tools to beat Simpson comfortably but the times when he looked good hurting Simpson to the body or timing him with straight one twos, he'd follow it up by smothering his own work, trying to clinch and getting caught. In a way, it was fairly similar to his brothers last couple of fights.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I had Smith winning it by a round. It was close though and could have gone either way really.

Simpson is a tough guy, so I always thought it would be close. Great fight for Smith to have under his belt at an early stage in his career.

stevek3lly wrote:

HomeOfBritishBoxing wrote:looks like everybody thought simpson nicked it, including myself. looks like swifty isn't what all the scousers made him out to be.

Look it was very, very close. You are all slagging Smith off on here, but lets remember the seasoned pro Simpson didn't really do too much either. It was a close fight and the judges obviously went with the agressor Smith who was decent for the first half. Personally had Simpson by 1, but that was scoring 10-10 rounds as well. They appear to have gone nowaday as judges are looking more for the winners. Smith has even said he will give a rematch, so thats the next step for me.

explain to me how i am slagging smith off...

I had Swifty winning by 5 watching live.

After a 2nd and 3rd viewing, I've still got Smith winning but it was a lot closer than my original score

Undefeated wrote:

toomanyshots wrote:No way did Smith win that fight!!! It was competitive yes but Simpson pushed ahead towards the end.
I was live at the fight, the shots Simpson hit Smith were far greater and more frequent.
I lost count the number of times Smith had spray sent flying from his head.
I felt Smiths body language at the end the fight told you what he thought the result was.
Simpson robbed again!! but this time at fking home due to it being on a FW show!
Am fed up with this! Why has Simpson continually being held back when Burns is fighting for world belts.
The least Simpson should have fought for by now is the European.
You could see this result had ripped the stomach from him again!!

Well said.

Simpson is an FW fighter as well.......bang goes the theory that FW was cooking the result to favour his fighter Smith!

Close fight which could have gone either way. I thought Simpson had done enough, and yes, Smith did look dejected after the final bell..........but 2 of the judges obviously thought he had done enough, regardless of where the fight was and who is whos fighter.

No robbery, just a very close decision that could have gone either way. Smith's stamina is excellent considering it was his first time going the distance, obviously he still has a good bit of work to do which is to be expected as he only has a handful of pro fights. I think Lindsay will be too much for him at this stage of his career. Swifty seems to be a good lad, down to earth and no bullsh1t. I felt sorry for Simpson after losing another close decision, he is just one of those fighters that never seems to get the nod.

Would like to firstly thanks everyone for all the messages, congrats, support and criticism. I will definitely give John a rematch, he deserves that as he didnt have to fight me, he could easily have moved on to European level but never, he accepted my challenge and im grateful for that.

I set out to box John, as I did in the first few rounds, then I broke my left hand at the end of the 4th or 5th and started leading with rights and lungin in and gettin messy, smothering up close. Neglecting my jab. Gutted really but all things I can put right.

People need to remember, I have gone to a GOOD CHAMPIONS backyard after 10 fights and fought for the Comonwealth Title in a very hostile atmosphere. A lot of prospects are still knocking bums over 20 fight in. I will make mistakes yes but feel im learning in the best way possible as I will have learnt more from that Simpson fight that I would have in another 10 bums.


Thanks again for all the support, hope you all had a good night.

P.S Congratulations Ricky Burns.

$wifty wrote:Would like to firstly thanks everyone for all the messages, congrats, support and criticism. I will definitely give John a rematch, he deserves that as he didnt have to fight me, he could easily have moved on to European level but never, he accepted my challenge and im grateful for that.

I set out to box John, as I did in the first few rounds, then I broke my left hand at the end of the 4th or 5th and started leading with rights and lungin in and gettin messy, smothering up close. Neglecting my jab. Gutted really but all things I can put right.

People need to remember, I have gone to a GOOD CHAMPIONS backyard after 10 fights and fought for the Comonwealth Title in a very hostile atmosphere. A lot of prospects are still knocking bums over 20 fight in. I will make mistakes yes but feel im learning in the best way possible as I will have learnt more from that Simpson fight that I would have in another 10 bums.


Thanks again for all the support, hope you all had a good night.

P.S Congratulations Ricky Burns.

Top reply. I think everyone (well almost everyone) appreciates the balls you showed making the step up to fight someone as good as Simpson in his backyard after so few fights. Some people are always going to go over the top in declaring really close fights a robbery (Johnny Nelson didn't help).

$wifty wrote:Would like to firstly thanks everyone for all the messages, congrats, support and criticism. I will definitely give John a rematch, he deserves that as he didnt have to fight me, he could easily have moved on to European level but never, he accepted my challenge and im grateful for that.

I set out to box John, as I did in the first few rounds, then I broke my left hand at the end of the 4th or 5th and started leading with rights and lungin in and gettin messy, smothering up close. Neglecting my jab. Gutted really but all things I can put right.

People need to remember, I have gone to a GOOD CHAMPIONS backyard after 10 fights and fought for the Comonwealth Title in a very hostile atmosphere. A lot of prospects are still knocking bums over 20 fight in. I will make mistakes yes but feel im learning in the best way possible as I will have learnt more from that Simpson fight that I would have in another 10 bums.


Thanks again for all the support, hope you all had a good night.

P.S Congratulations Ricky Burns.

Well done

It certainly wasnt a robbery although I think a draw would have been a fair result. Congrats to Swifty, he did very well and I can understand why he clinched so much now he has explained his damaged hand. The lad did well so early in his pro career. I do feel for Simpson though, I think he deserved the draw.
Well done to Ricky burns!

mickey1975 wrote:

The Kirkby Kid wrote:This was an extremely close fight and it genuinely could have gone either way. I was surprised that Smith was given the decision, especially as he was challenging and was fighting in Scotland. Still, really pleased that he won and that Liverpool has another champion.

One annoying thing though, MC Mark Burdis really needs to practice his delivery when it comes to announcing judges' decisions. I'm sure he said that it was a majority decision - it was a split decision!

The MC was correct,a split decision is called a majority in Britain

Is this right? I am happy to stand corrected on this. I always thought that where two judges go for one fighter with the other going for the other that this should be announced as a split decision. The UK press seems to report it this way! I'll check out what Boxing News classify the result as in Thursday's issue! Boxrec.com certainly records the result as a Split Decision!

$wifty wrote:Would like to firstly thanks everyone for all the messages, congrats, support and criticism. I will definitely give John a rematch, he deserves that as he didnt have to fight me, he could easily have moved on to European level but never, he accepted my challenge and im grateful for that.

I set out to box John, as I did in the first few rounds, then I broke my left hand at the end of the 4th or 5th and started leading with rights and lungin in and gettin messy, smothering up close. Neglecting my jab. Gutted really but all things I can put right.

People need to remember, I have gone to a GOOD CHAMPIONS backyard after 10 fights and fought for the Comonwealth Title in a very hostile atmosphere. A lot of prospects are still knocking bums over 20 fight in. I will make mistakes yes but feel im learning in the best way possible as I will have learnt more from that Simpson fight that I would have in another 10 bums.


Thanks again for all the support, hope you all had a good night.

P.S Congratulations Ricky Burns.

Congratulations! I did think that you looked the more accomplished boxer and certainly very quick. I thought John shaded it due to his workrate but I assume your hand injury would have had a big impact. A re-match would be great as the fight was a great lead up to the main event.

$wifty wrote:Would like to firstly thanks everyone for all the messages, congrats, support and criticism. I will definitely give John a rematch, he deserves that as he didnt have to fight me, he could easily have moved on to European level but never, he accepted my challenge and im grateful for that.

I set out to box John, as I did in the first few rounds, then I broke my left hand at the end of the 4th or 5th and started leading with rights and lungin in and gettin messy, smothering up close. Neglecting my jab. Gutted really but all things I can put right.

People need to remember, I have gone to a GOOD CHAMPIONS backyard after 10 fights and fought for the Comonwealth Title in a very hostile atmosphere. A lot of prospects are still knocking bums over 20 fight in. I will make mistakes yes but feel im learning in the best way possible as I will have learnt more from that Simpson fight that I would have in another 10 bums.


Thanks again for all the support, hope you all had a good night.

P.S Congratulations Ricky Burns.

Keep up the hard graft mate, you're going places.

was a great night, top atmosphere all the best

Close fight that could've gone either way, but I had Simpson edging it

diggler wrote:was a great night, top atmosphere all the best

Was nice meeting you mate.

Whens ya next show?

The Kirkby Kid wrote:

mickey1975 wrote:

The Kirkby Kid wrote:This was an extremely close fight and it genuinely could have gone either way. I was surprised that Smith was given the decision, especially as he was challenging and was fighting in Scotland. Still, really pleased that he won and that Liverpool has another champion.

One annoying thing though, MC Mark Burdis really needs to practice his delivery when it comes to announcing judges' decisions. I'm sure he said that it was a majority decision - it was a split decision!

The MC was correct,a split decision is called a majority in Britain

Is this right? I am happy to stand corrected on this. I always thought that where two judges go for one fighter with the other going for the other that this should be announced as a split decision. The UK press seems to report it this way! I'll check out what Boxing News classify the result as in Thursday's issue! Boxrec.com certainly records the result as a Split Decision!

They are the same thing.Traditionally though,it would be announced as a majority over here.Nowadays some will use split and i suppose its more popular due to years of watching big US fights announced as split

All these people saying Stephen was the home fighter, FW's fighter etc. Simpson is with Frank. Frank stayed silent throughout and Simpson had the home fighter's corner. John Simpson was the hometown fighter, the house fighter AND the champion.

The person saying that the look on my face said that I thought Stephen lost - Are you the new Dr Lightman now? Reading people's minds judged on their expressions? Anyone who has their younger brother in a massive fight like that and knowing the fight was pretty close would look a lot worse trust me. The fact I'm a fighter myself stops be crumbling. The nerves are worse when it's a sibling in there.

Stephen went to Glasgow, Simpson is a very good fighter, underdog, first 12 round fight, first title fight, first cut, first broken hand, first live fight(sort of top of the bill) and beat a very good kid in John Simpson.
All that matters is the result and the title. Don't forget Simpson and his team predicted they'd grind him down and stop Stephen. Saying he wouldn't be fit or strong or tough enough for John.

On the night I had Stephen winning by 2(7-5), watching it back I shared a round, gave 6 to Stephen and 5 to Simpson.
Simpson is a good lad, understandably gutted he lost and can win titles again - but that's boxing.

All the stuff about ripping a belt from a champion, hometown decision, house fighter decision means nothing.

Also I am never one to criticise TV but Jim Watt couldn't hide his disgust in the Englishman beating a Scotchman. Disgusting

Chris W 1982 wrote:

diggler wrote:was a great night, top atmosphere all the best

Was nice meeting you mate.

Whens ya next show?

the magnificent 7 then john murray or Derry undecided yet

Smigga wrote:Also I am never one to criticise TV but Jim Watt couldn't hide his disgust in the Englishman beating a Scotchman. Disgusting

Watt didn't say anything unfair as far as I can recall.

Horse wrote:

Smigga wrote:Also I am never one to criticise TV but Jim Watt couldn't hide his disgust in the Englishman beating a Scotchman. Disgusting

Watt didn't say anything unfair as far as I can recall.

I didn't say he said anything unfair. I said he didn't like the fact that an Englishman beat a Scot.
I don't really wish to go into it, but watch the fight again and listen to Watt's negativity toward Stephen.

Horse wrote:

Smigga wrote:Also I am never one to criticise TV but Jim Watt couldn't hide his disgust in the Englishman beating a Scotchman. Disgusting

Watt didn't say anything unfair as far as I can recall.

I think Johnny Nelson seemed more disgusted with the decision, although I don't rate Watt that highly, he scored the fight a draw and admitted neither fighter could complain at losing

mickey1975 wrote:

The Kirkby Kid wrote:This was an extremely close fight and it genuinely could have gone either way. I was surprised that Smith was given the decision, especially as he was challenging and was fighting in Scotland. Still, really pleased that he won and that Liverpool has another champion.

One annoying thing though, MC Mark Burdis really needs to practice his delivery when it comes to announcing judges' decisions. I'm sure he said that it was a majority decision - it was a split decision!

The MC was correct,a split decision is called a majority in Britain

No it's not. A majority is when one is a draw.