Stephen Simmons bid to become the first Scot to hold the British cruiserweight title ended in disappointment last night at London’s York Hall as the 33-year-old Edinburgh fighter was knocked out by defending champion Matty Askin.
Simmons had started well, level on most scorecards after the opening round. However, having been tagged by an early hook to the body, the Scot was felled by a searing left-hand to the solar plexus, sending him to the floor.
Writhing and shocked, Simmons failed to beat the count, the fight stopped 1.52 in to the second round, leaving the challenger beating the canvas in frustration at having been halted in such a manner.
It was Blackpool- based Askin’s first defence of the Lonsdale Belt he won against Craig Kennedy in May of last year.
Afterwards, on Twitter, Simmons admitted; "Gutted is an understatement ... but very well done to Matty Askin on the win. Landed the perfect shot right in the solar plex."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here