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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Will Freeman

Simple Simon reveals sparring injuries ahead of Ed Matthews fight

'Simple' Simon Colbran has revealed the injuries he has suffered in order to get fit for his fight against Ed Matthews, the main event of a unique show of TikTok boxing taking place in London this weekend.

The 52-year-old will come up against the 22-year-old Matthews on a packed celebrity card at the O2 Indigo Arena on Saturday night with fellow TikTok stars, including Chef Dave vs Aaron Hunt and Ginty vs Luke Bennett, although the co-headline fight between adult stars Elle Brook and Astrid Wett has been called off due to the latter's withdrawal.

Matthews has been embroiled in 'beef' with Colbran this year and the pair got into a heated confrontation at the press conference last month. Now, he has exclusively revealed to The Mirror that he has been taking a physical toll in the build-up to this fight, with the father of five revealing the extent of the injuries he has received in training.

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“Last month, I thought I really needed to get a proper boxing camp, so I went to my local gym. [Rusthall Boxing Club]," Colbran explained. "My coach really put me through my paces, got me sparring and put me in the ring with people a lot better than me. I sparred with this 17-year-old, who was Southern champion three times, he just played around with me.

"Then my coach put me against someone a lot bigger than me and I got beaten up really bad. I had blood all over me, my nose was all over the place and two black eyes but I needed that. That’s what you need to expect."

There is no love lost between the pair, with Matthews sparking a confrontation at the press conference in June by offering to gift Colbran's teenage daughter a sex toy - the latest in a string of derogatory remarks and Colbran has said that Matthews' comments about his family will be extra motivation for him in the fight.

"He tried to get to me without using my family and it didn’t work because I get called every name under the sun," the 52-year old football coach re . "He saw how close he was with my daughter Keeley and he knew it was going to get to me. As soon as you involve family it’s a different story. I’m going to stick up for my family all day long whatever happens."

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