John Simpson 22-7 (9) from Greenock, Scotland tonight turned in probably a career best performance to dethrone British featherweight champion Martin Lindsay 17-1 (6) in Lindsay’s home town of Belfast.

The fight was an excellent affair full of good action from both fighters but I felt that the judges got it about right, which was nice for Simpson who has been on the short end of several close decisions in the past.

The defending champion Lindsay seemed to me to get off to the better start as he was more accurate, although as early as the first round Simpson had laid down his aggressive strategy. Lindsay’s right eye started to swell from the second and this gradually got worse as the fight progressed despite some sterling efforts from his corner.

Simpson had a superb spell from the fourth round until the seventh , sweeping all these rounds on my card. Simpson did miss with quite a few of his punches but threw a lot more than the defending champion. His body attack was excellent forcing Lindsay several times to drop his elbows down normally after Simpson had landed his left hook downstairs.

The Kings Hall crowd were a little quieter than normal perhaps sensing their man was behind at this stage but Lindsay showed his mettle by coming firing back in the eighth and taking it clearly before a good ninth round in which I could not split the two men.

So was Simpson going to fade down the stretch? Not a bit of it as the Scot who had threatened retirement should he have lost tonight, again upped his work-rate and threw lots of jabs and hooks to body and head in the tenth although Lindsay tried to flurry late in the round, maybe to try and catch the judges eye.

The eleventh featured some lovely boxing from Simpson again, who seemed to just steady Lindsay with another left hook to the body. Again the accuracy was better from Lindsay but he just could not match the work rate of his challenger.

Simpson’s corner  told their man before the final round that he was ahead and to match whatever Lindsay did whilst Lindsay’s corner said it was close but that he need to win the final round big. I thought the final round was the best of the night as both men let it all go to try and ensure that they won the round. I felt Lindsay won this round although he did take a left hook near the end which he certainly felt.

I had it scored 116-114 to Simpson but the judges all saw by identical scores of 116-113. Simpson as you would expect was jubilant at the decision, while Lindsay whose right eye had swollen completely shut praised his opponent and said that he would definitely come again.

A very exciting fight which was the final live UK show of 2010 to be shown on Sky Sports.

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