BARNSLEY, England - Callum Simpson is the new European super middleweight champion after getting off the floor twice to stop Italy’s Ivan Zucco in the tenth round of a wild fight at Oakwell Stadium in Barnsley.

In front of a large, raucous crowd, Simpson (18-0, 13 KOs) and Zucco (21-1, 18 KOs) went to war.

This was Simpson’s second headline appearance at his hometown club’s stadium. Last August the 28 year-old proved he could handle the pressure of an expectant home crowd and became the British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion by outpointing Zak Chelli in front of 7,000 fans.

Tonight, 15,000 filed into Oakwell to watch Simpson (165lbs) take on the previously undefeated southpaw and the local hero sent them off happily into a cold Yorkshire night dreaming of just where this remarkable story could go.

Zucco (165lbs) carried himself with a calm confidence throughout the build-up and stood stock still in the ring as Simpson made a long winding walk to the ring, high fiving as many people as he could in the raucous crowd.

Within 15 seconds, those same fans were silenced as Zucco deposited the local hero on the canvas with a pair of perfectly timed left hands. Clearly stunned, Simpson got up and rather than allowing his head to clear, decided to go to trade with the heavy handed Zucco.

The dangerous tactic paid off and he enjoyed plenty of success of his own as a wild round ended.

Close was safe for Simpson who looked the stronger man and landed plenty of shots inside but appeared extremely vulnerable when the pace slowed and there was space between the two.

He paid the price again in the third, squaring up at mid range and going down again after absorbing another flush left hand from Zucco.

In full crisis mode, Simpson managed to avoid trouble for much of the fourth as a tiring Zucco seemed to lose some of the snap from his punches and whilst he managed to control the range for much of the fifth, he still continued to make the mistake of drifting into mid-range and putting himself directly in the line of fire.

Things began to calm down. Zucco began to look more and more tired as the frenzied pace began to tell. Simpson’s weight of punch didn’t seem to be troubling the Italian but his relentless workrate certainly did.

Bloodied but with a measure of control, Simpson took the fight by the scruff of the neck. A series of uppercuts eventually dropped an exhausted Zucco in his own corner. The Italian dragged himself up but Simpson bulled him right back to the same corner and found another uppercut to drop him again. The fight had left Zucco and Simpson poured forward, unloading shots until he sank to the canvas for a third time. Zucco got up again but his cornerman climbed up to the apron and stopped the fight.

The time was 2.28 of the tenth. Simpson adds the prestigious blue and gold European title to his British and Commonwealth belts and Barnsley looks set for more big nights in the future.