Six months ago, Troy Williamson was looking for a way back to relevance. Now, he finds himself in the mix for a shot at the IBF super middleweight title.

Williamson (22-4-1, 16 KOs) stopped Callum Simpson on December 20 to become the British, Commonwealth and European 168-pound champion. The dramatic victory also earned him the No. 6 position in the IBF rankings.

Earlier this week, The Ring reported that just days after Canelo Alvarez turned down the chance to take on Osleys Iglesias for the title that Terence Crawford recently vacated, Jaime Munguia also rejected the opportunity to fight the unbeaten Cuban.

The search for somebody willing to face The Ring’s No. 2-ranked contender, Iglesias, will continue. Hamzah Sheeraz sits at No. 5 in the IBF rankings, but the undefeated Brit appears to have other plans.

Williamson is next in line and is waiting for the call.

“That’s what I’ve seen,” Williamson told The Ring. “I think [Sheeraz] is going down the WBO route to fight Diego Pacheco. I’m next in line, so I can’t see why the phone won’t ring.

“I know there’s a rematch clause with Simpson, so I don’t know how that'll play out. But hopefully within the next couple of days we have some sort of news.”

As far as Williamson is aware, Simpson’s team hasn’t activated the rematch clause. If he is going to have to get back in the ring with the Barnsley man, he would like to do so sooner rather than later.

Plans had been penciled in for the popular Simpson (18-1, 13 KOs) to return to Oakwell Stadium for what has become his traditional summer open-air homecoming show.

Williamson is more than happy to fulfil the contractual obligation, but he doesn’t want to be confined to the sidelines whilst opportunities pass him by.

“Yeah, I can’t sit out for six or seven months, definitely not,” he said. “Obviously I’ve got a family I need to take care of, so if the Callum rematch does get activated, I’d like that in March. I think it has to happen within the first week of April, but whether that gives him enough time, I’m not sure. If he wants it in June, then I’m happy to go the IBF route, obviously win that and come and have my first defence against Callum.”

In April 2025, Williamson found himself in no man’s land after suffering a third consecutive defeat at the hands of Jahi Tucker at middleweight. Stepping up to 168 pounds breathed new life into the 34-year-old Darlington native’s career.

He got back on track with a stunning knockout of the highly rated Mark Dickinson. Although he entered the fight with Simpson as a sizeable underdog, he did so with total belief that he would get the job done.

The outstanding win has given him options.

Williamson finds himself a phone call away from a potential world title fight. If he does have to wait for Simpson, he will enter a high-profile rematch confident of scoring another stoppage victory and boosting his world ranking further.

“I think it’ll be more conclusive this time,” he said. “I think it’ll go a lot earlier and now I’ve been in there with him and I know what to expect, I don’t think that he can change much in these short months. I’m excited for what the future holds. I’ve got a bright 2026.

“I think it’s the first time in my full career I’ve been in this position where I’ve had options. And one thing I’ve never really had is a plan on what direction I want to go down, so it’ll be nice to have that as well.”