Blackpool boxer Askin expects a cruise of a title fight

Matty Askin is very confident of victory against Stephen Simmons

Askin will defend his Lonsdale belt against the Scot at the iconic York Hall venue in east London’s Bethnal Green tomorrow.

The bout will be screened live on Channel 5 after David Haye won the purse bids for the fight.

It will headline a show that also features Olympic silver medallist Joe Joyce.

Askin says he is going into the fight full of confidence against his 18-2 opponent.

“In terms of preparation, everything has gone absolutely spot on,” the 29-year-old told The Gazette.

“Sparring has been brilliant and my weight has been the best it’s been for a long time.

“I’m probably going down to London the best mentally I’ve been for a while as well.

“Channel 5 obviously enjoyed what they saw last time I fought on their channel against Craig Kennedy.

“They’re going to want to show a decent fight which is why they’ve picked this, because we know it will be a good scrap.

“We know exactly what Simmons will do, he’ll come forward and that’ll be it. He doesn’t really do much else.

“He’s there to be hit and he’s there to be hit hard, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.

“I’m not going to walk around and try and box him, even though I could.

“To be fair I can do whatever I want with him. I can box him or I can fight him.

“But I’m a lot faster, I’m a lot bigger and I punch a hell of a lot harder. When you put those three things together, three things he doesn’t have, how do you see him winning? It’s near-on impossible.

“He’s just got to expect me to trip up and break my neck on the way to the ring, that’s the only way he’s winning.

“There’s no way he’s winning my title. We’ve been through every scenario and in every one he loses the fight, whether we box or whether we fight. I can do whatever I want to do.”

Askin, who has won 22 of his 26 fights and is ranked number one in Britain at his weight, insists he isn’t looking past this fight.

That’s despite having a sparring session arranged against the world’s number one cruiserweight and Olympic gold medallist Oleksandr Usyk, taking place in Dubai during April.

“He’s the best in the world at the minute at cruiserweight so that’ll show me whereabouts I am,” Askin added.

“He’s a brilliant fighter and he’s personally asked me to go over, so that’s a bit of credit to us and what we’re doing as a team.

“I’m expecting to go over for two weeks to get the rounds in and try and push him as hard as I can so he can win that World Boxing Super Series trophy. I want to see where I’m at and there’s no better way of knowing than getting in the ring with them.”