CALLUM Simpson is looking to win the European title for his late sister, who was in attendance for his previous Oakwell bout.
Lily-Rae Simpson, 19, attended her brother’s win at Oakwell last August but died following a road accident while on holiday in Greece just days later.
Callum will now fight again at Oakwell against Ivan Zucco on Saturday, looking to become the first Barnsley born and bred boxer to win a European title.
Simpson told the Chronicle: “Everything I do is for Lily.
“I wanted to make her proud when she was with us and now she’s passed away, it’s still the same.
“The last fight she came to was at Oakwell. I have been looking at videos of her chanting: ‘there’s only one Callum Simpson’.
“I am sure she will be looking down at me proud and she’ll be with me on fight night.”
As well as his successful boxing career, Callum is venturing into fashion-designing, having worked previously in clothes shops before fighting full-time.
“I am looking to launch a luxury menswear and streetwear brand called Aurae.
“The name is inspired by the word aura and my sister Lily-Rae’s name. It reflects her vibrant spirit.
“Hopefully I will be launching that in August.
“It’s not just a clothing line, it’s a reflection of my journey, roots and family.”
Although Callum is more regularly recognised now in his hometown of Barnsley, he says not much has changed for him since becoming a TV boxer and British champion in recent years.
“My life is still the same, I just have a lot more photos taken now.
“I still do the same things day to day and work just as hard if not harder.
“I get recognised all the time, not just in town but up and down the country as well. Sky TV is the biggest platform in the UK, I have done a lot of commentary and media work and been promoted really well by Boxxer.
“I was on holiday in St Lucia doing a latin dance class and a woman asked me ‘are you that boxer?’ because her husband had recognised me.
“I got recognised by a few people in Dubai. It’s pretty surreal.”
As well as training hard for his fight, and doing his media duties, Simpson has also personally sold and handed out thousands of tickets to his growing legion of fans.
“It’s great for me to put faces to the names of my fans. People have spent their hard-earned money on tickets so the least I can do is give them the ticket personally, have a photo with them and sign a glove or poster.
“When I am doing my ring walk and there are 15,000 of them cheering me, I will have met thousands of them.”
The crowd at Oakwell is set to be bigger than most of the attendances for Barnsley FC games in the last season, in which the Reds finished in mid-table in League One.
Simpson, who regularly watches Reds games, said: “It would have been great to have been promoted then have an another big event at Oakwell to celebrate a few weeks later.
“Unfortunately we’ve not had the best season but I think, with Conor Hourihane in charge, I have a lot of confidence in them.
“I have spent a lot of time with Conor and been very impressed.
“I am expecting some good things to come out of Barnsley FC this year.”
Since beating Zak Chelli at Oakwell last year, Simpson has won in two rounds against Steed Woodall in Sheffield in January then in London against Elvis Ahorgah three weeks later.
