A Barnsley tourist attraction has offered a knockout surprise to local boxer Callum Simpson ahead of his championship fight this weekend.

The Nicholson Family, of Cannon Hall Farm, invited Callum to appear on their podcast last week. Callum is training to fight Ivan Zucco at Barnsley FC’s Oakwell Stadium Saturday for the European Middleweight Title and he popped by to his local farm to talk about his upcoming fight.

He recalls losing his first fight at nine-years-old and added: “As an amateur, I loved doing it, I was always a good kid but I had a bit of a temper. I had an older brother who wound me up and boxing helped me calm down a bit.

“I never thought about going pro until I was about 15/16 and started sparring a few pros and thought I could do this. I was just committed, dedicated and stuck at it.”

To mark his visit to the farm, he was introduced to some of the animal favourites – and Dad Roger Nicholson, showed off his old boxing gloves.

Rob added: “Dad actually went to the same school Callum went to and used to box himself. He only lost once in all the time he boxed, but his own dad could never go and watch because he was too bothered he would get hurt. Dad has always loved boxing and thought Callum might be interested in seeing his old gloves.”

Roger had to give up boxing when, at 16, his dad died at the responsibility for running Cannon Hall Farm fell on his shoulders, but he is still a fan and is looking forward to watching Callum fight at Oakwell.

Rob added: “Those gloves are a cherished family heirloom now, and I can remember boxing my brothers with them when we were younger. Callum was really interested in them to try them on and compare them to the gloves of the modern day that he has to wear.

“We are a Barnsley family and it is so great to see someone from our home town doing well and putting Barnsley on the map. He’s a nice kid, humble and hard working and deserves all the success he gets. It was great to spend some time with him behind the scenes at the farm.

“We can’t wait to go and cheer him on. We’ve not had many deliriously happy times at Barnsley Football Club lately so we are hoping things at Oakwell change with him and he gives the home crowd something to cheer about.”

On the day Callum visited, the farm’s pedigree Shorthorn cow Beryl gave birth to a bull calf which was named in Callum’s honour.

Rob added: “He was genuinely blown away by the gesture. That calfs mum and dad are both champions and if it’s anything as good as Callum we could win the Yorkshire show with it.”

Callum joked: “If only we could get the calf trained up for a ring walk, I think I’m more excited having a calf named after me.”