Career
Simmons first began training at the Toronto Newsboys Boxing Club in Toronto, Ontario in 1979. In 1996, Simmons was the Canadian Olympic alternate in the 91 kg weight division to David Defiagbon 91 kg (1996 Atlanta, Olympics, Silver medalist). His first major International tournament was the 1997 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, where he defeated Macedonia via a first round knock out, then winning a decision over United States of America"s (Davaryll Willimson), and losing a 5 round 14-10 decision to Cuba"s three time Olympic Gold medalist (92", 96", 00"), Félix Savón, who was highly regarded as one of the world"s greatest boxers, giving him an AIBA ranking of 5th in the world.
At the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Simmons defeated Jamaica in the quarter-finals, United States of America in the semi-final, and lost to Odlanier Solis of Cuba in the final by a 4-2 score in the taking home the silver medal, despite boxing with a broken hand.
Simmons had qualified a place under the 91 kg heavyweight division at the 2000 Olympic Qualification tournament in Tijuana, Mexico with victories over Venezuela, Jamaica, Puerto Rico. At the 2000 Summer Olympics Simmons defeated Iran"s Rouhollah Hosseini in the round of 16 by a score of 11–6 suffering a broken hand in this bout.
Simmons would then lose the guaranteed Bronze medal match to Germany"s Sebastian Köber in the quarterfinal by a score of 16–1. Simmons was a kinesiology and health sciences major at York University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2000.
Simmons has many movie credits to his name including the 2005 movie Cinderella Manitoba, working along his fellow Canadian team and room mate Troy Amos-Ross, playing the role of heavyweight boxer Art Lasky.
After retiring from boxing and never turning profession despite numerous offers, Simmons has worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative. In 2011, Simmons was also hired by the Ontario Athletic Commission and has worked as a professional boxing referee and Mobile Marketing Association equipment official