Last August, Callum Simpson enjoyed the best night of his professional life when he beat British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion, Zak Chelli, in front of thousands of his friends and family.

Just a couple of weeks later, the 28 year-old had to absorb the heartbreaking news that his 19 year-old sister, Lily, had died after being involved in an accident whilst on holiday.

Boxing took a back seat.

Simpson soon decided that his sister wouldn’t have wanted him to sit down and let his hard work go to waste and asked his team to book him in a defence of his newly won titles for early in the new year. They obliged and, on Saturday, Simpson fights Steed Woodall at Sheffield’s Park Community Arena.

Christmas can be the hardest time of the year for those who have lost loved ones. Lily will have been at the centre of the Simpson family’s thoughts over the past few weeks but having a fight to focus on and another channel to pour his emotion and attention into has helped Simpson through the difficult period.

“Yes, definitely. A few weeks after Lily, my sister, passed away. I spoke to my manager, Kevin Maree, and he was saying, ‘We can get you an easier fight, just an eight rounder or maybe an international fight’ and I said to him straight away, ‘No. I don't want that. I want a tough, proper fight.’” Simpson, 15-0 (10 KOs), told The Ring.

“We've built all this momentum. I wanted to make Lily proud when she was alive and I want to do the same now that she’s passed away and continue making her proud.

“I said the same to Boxxer and Ben Shalom as well. They said to me that I can have an easy fight if I want or just go on the undercard and I said, ‘No.’

“I want to keep on. I want another hard fight. I want to defend the titles I've just won. I want to keep on pushing and it's helped massively in terms of having something to focus on and keeping myself busy.

“I'm in the gym all the time anyway but just to keep me happy, all I want is a fight day but it's given me that drive just to keep pushing and something to focus on. So for me it's helped massively.

“Everyone's different. You know, I'm sure there's a lot of boxers that would have rather maybe even had a year out of boxing or maybe have a few months not training or spending time with family. There’s others that’d be exactly the same as me.

“Everyone's different, everyone handles things in different ways but, for me personally, I feel like this is the best thing for me to do.”

Simpson hasn’t only had to concentrate on getting himself through a training camp mentally and physically intact, he has had to prepare for a very real threat this weekend.

Woodall, 19-2-1 (12 KOs), isn’t the type of fighter he can afford to overlook or take for granted. The 30 year-old from Birmingham may not have a massive profile or reputation but has fought his way into position and, in June, he was responsible for one of the more eye-catching results of the year when he stopped the talented and previously unbeaten Lerrone Richards.

As unfair as it may be, the skilful southpaw’s safety first approach landed him was somewhere near the bottom of the list of preferred opponents for almost every highly ranked super middleweight in the world but Woodall leapt at the chance to change the course of his career.

Woodall didn’t allow frustration to get the better of him. He bided his time and, midway through the sixth round, he found a fight ending right hand.

Simpson was just beginning preparations for his British title fight with Chelli when Woodall sprung his surprise but, in a real sign of confidence, he immediately pencilled him as a future opponent.

Lily’s passing hasn’t untracked him from that plan.

“I said that I want a tough, hard fight, and actually the night that Steed knocked out Lerrone, my manager Kerry Maree texted me and told me and I replied to him straight away saying, ‘First defence, Steed Woodall’ and this was actually maybe a month or two before I won the British and Commonwealth anyway.

“So, yeah, it's someone that I've had on my radar for a while and, for me, I think it is the toughest fight in the division at super middleweight.

“I think he’s a solid fighter, experienced and an all-round complete fighter, to be honest. I've done a lot of rounds with Lerrone Richards. It's very hard to hit him that clean and he's the former IBO, European, British and Commonwealth champion. So, a massive, massive win for Steed and these are the kind of challenges that I want and I've got it.”

If Woodall has been given plenty of plaudits for the way he solved the Richards Rubik’s Cube, Simpson deserves immense credit for the way he got past Chelli.

The Londoner has a unique, awkward style that fighter after fighter has found difficult to master but under intense scrutiny, Simpson managed it.

Simpson only found his way onto television screens 16 months earlier but suddenly found himself boxing for the British and Commonwealth titles in his hometown of Barnsley and as the headline attraction on one of Sky Sports’ biggest nights of the year.

Demand for tickets was so great that Boxxer decided to take the plunge and stage the fight outdoors at Oakwell, the home of Barnsley Football Club. The 7,000 tickets made available were snapped up almost instantly.

Home comforts are all well and good but they do bring their own unique pressures. Barnsley isn’t a big place and Simpson won’t have been able to call at a shop or fill his car up with petrol without engaging in a conversation about the fight.

He expertly handled the attention but, crucially, made sure that winning the actual fight stayed at the forefront of his mind throughout the build up.

He did it emphatically. It wasn’t always pretty but it was dominant.

“It's hard to look good against Lerrone. It's hard to look good against Chelli. But I feel like we both did it,” he said.

“I think I won every round bar one on the judge's scorecards and he obviously stopped Lerrone. So, we've both taken care of the awkward opponents and I think our styles will gel nicely for the fans. He's a come forward fighter, he can take a shot and he's got power and he can throw.

“So it's a big challenge for me but if I believe I'm going to get to the top where I want to be, I need to be beating Steed.

“I think that's why it was hard to look good against Chelli because he was on the back foot. I think I caught him with a right hand in the first round and I hurt him and he was on the back foot all the way then, all the rest of the fight, and he was holding quite a lot.

“We ticked a lot of boxes. How will he handle the crowd? You know, we sold out 7,000 within 48 hours.

“It was my first time being in a main event, fighting for a British and Commonwealth titles. How will he handle the pressure? I think everyone saw that it didn't faze me at all and I feel like I was made for this.”

Handling the pressure is one thing. Being able to enjoy and welcome the expectation is a different matter altogether and something lots of ticket sellers struggle to do.

“Oh, I loved it. I loved it. I enjoyed it massively,” Simpson said.

“There's one thing that I want to be able to look back on - well, amongst a few things - I want to be able to look back on my career and know that I enjoyed it.

“That's why I always do. Whether it's the press conferences, the open workouts, the weigh-ins, the ring walks, the fight night, the camps or the full build-up. I've worked way too hard for way too long to not enjoy this.”

Beating Woodall will cement Simpson’s position as Britain’s best at super middleweight. Britain has a rich history at 168lbs. Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn led the way and the great Joe Calzaghe picked up the torch when they departed the scene. Carl Froch’s run earned him a spot in The International Boxing Hall of Fame whilst George Groves, Callum Smith and James DeGale all played their part in keeping the division in the limelight.

It is more than four years since Smith moved up to light heavyweight and Simpson is the first fighter to emerge with the skill, popularity and profile to really carry the super middleweight division and heats to do so fuelled by his sister’s memory.

“I believe so. You know, I've always believed that I'm the man at 168lbs but I'm glad that I finally had a chance to prove it and I'm going to prove it again on the 11th of January and I'm going to continue to prove it,” he said.

“I think at super middleweight, we've been missing that household name - that star - for many years.

“We had Froch, Groves and Callum Smith as well and we've not had a name - a big name - like that for quite a few years. So, yeah, I'm happy to be flying the flag, carrying the torch.

“We're going to continue building and hopefully we become a household name. The next superstar, super middleweight.”