Scottish amateur boxing champ Steve Simmons insists he is ready to break his international duck and bring home a medal from the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Milan this week.

The Leith Victoria heavyweight missed out on last year’s Olympic Games in Beijing after losing qualifying bouts against Azerbaijan’s Elchin Alizade and Romania’s Laurentiu Petriso Gananau.

But rather than turning pro, the 24-year old committed himself to amateur boxing until 2014 and was rewarded by being named British team captain for the upcoming championships.

And Simmons is determined to use last year’s Olympic heartbreak as motivation in Italy.

“I was ripped off in my qualifier against the Romanian last year,” said the Scot. “He was given the win on a computer count-back even though I destroyed him in the final round.

“But I’ve been doing intense power training over the few months and I don’t want to be depending on bouts going the distance any more – I want to win before the bell.”