{"id":645946,"date":"2026-06-18T20:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645946\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T20:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:21:09","slug":"abergavenny-hospital-patient-gets-visit-from-boxing-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645946\/","title":{"rendered":"Abergavenny hospital patient gets visit from boxing champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  On Sunday, June 7, Steve &#8220;Sammy&#8221; Sims, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southwalesargus.co.uk\/local-news\/newport-news\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Newport<\/a>\u2019s former British featherweight champion, visited Mary Collingbourne at Nevill Hall Hospital in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southwalesargus.co.uk\/local-news\/abergavenny-news\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Abergavenny<\/a> while she recovered from a painful back condition.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The meeting came after a conversation between Ms Collingbourne\u2019s son, Andrew, and Mr Sims, with Andrew currently helping Sims write his autobiography.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Andrew Collingbourne said: &#8220;We thought it would give her a lift by Steve coming along with me to show her his championship belts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;They had a great time discussing Newport back in the day.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;It was a feel-good story \u2014 how patients in hospital can get a lift from Newport&#8217;s sporting heroes.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ms Collingbourne, now discharged and on the mend, spoke with Mr Sims about her years working at Butchers Quality Meats in Oakfield, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southwalesargus.co.uk\/local-news\/cwmbran-news\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Cwmbran<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The shop was owned by her late husband, Charlie Collingbourne.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mr Sims, 67, became British featherweight champion in September 1982 after defeating Terry McKeown in the 12th round at the St Andrew&#8217;s Sporting Club in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The title made him the first Welsh holder of the belt since Howard Winstone in 1966, and only the second British champion from Newport after Johnny Basham.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  During the hospital visit, Mr Sims brought both his Lonsdale Belt and Welsh Championship Belt.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Lonsdale Belt, first introduced in 1909, is one of boxing\u2019s most iconic titles.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Mr Sims has long been known for his community work outside the ring, having founded the Ringland Boxing Club in Newport and established Sammy&#8217;s Community Hub in Alway.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  His visit to Ms Collingbourne reflects his lifelong commitment to supporting others.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Recently, Mr Sims revealed he has been diagnosed with dementia pugilistica, a condition caused by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) \u2014 an incurable degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head impacts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He began noticing memory issues from the age of 32.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Despite the diagnosis, Mr Sims continues to raise awareness of brain injury in sport and remains active in community projects.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He is currently working on a documentary and his autobiography \u2014 the reason for his meeting with Andrew Collingbourne that ultimately led to the hospital visit.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The visit turned into a heartfelt moment for Ms Collingbourne, who shared stories and laughter with Mr Sims at her bedside.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  For those at Nevill Hall Hospital, it was a rare and uplifting chance to see a piece of sporting history up close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Sunday, June 7, Steve &#8220;Sammy&#8221; Sims, Newport\u2019s former British featherweight champion, visited Mary Collingbourne at Nevill Hall&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}