Billy Collins Jnr

Just south of Nashville, Tennessee there’s a community called Antioch. It's there boxer Billy Collins, Jr. made his home.

He grew up poor. He only had one pair of blue jeans to wear to school.

He washed them by hand and hung them to dry overnight. He’d waken sometimes to find the jeans frozen on the line. His house had plastic coverings for storm windows.

He came from a proud, hardworking and respected family that had deep roots in boxing. What he lacked in money, he more than made up for in character and determination, and became an accomplished amateur boxer.

Skilled, strong, tough, and courageous, Billy was an awesome fighter. He was trained by his father, Billy Collins, Sr. The senior Collins had been a professional and took pride in his son’s work ethic and his instinct for fighting.

Early in his pro career, Billy was one of the first ESPN Boxing Champions. He won the ESPN Welterweight Championship, was up-and-coming, undefeated -- on the brink of greatness.

On June 16, 1983 at Madison Square Garden, Billy fought on the under card of the Roberto Duran -vs.- Davey Moore World Jr. Middleweight Championship. He was matched against was Luis Resto, a journeyman brawler.

The fight was televised nationally on ABC Wide World of Sports. Billy was world ranked, 14-0 with 11 knockouts. He was on the verge of a world title fight.

This was to be his “golden opportunity.” Resto, had twice as many fights as Billy, but Billy was the favorite to win.

Before the start of the bout, Panama Lewis, Resto’s trainer, was yelling across the ring to Billy and his corner, “You’re going down, Collins! You’re going down!”

During the fight, Billy complained to his corner that Resto was, “hitting me with a brick.” Billy’s father asked him if he wanted to stop the fight. “No,” he replied. “I’m going to knock him out!”

Billy was in a real-life fight for his life. He traded punch-for-punch with Resto over 10 grueling rounds. Although he was never knocked down, Billy got a brutal beating. His grit alone kept him from going down.

When the fight was over, a despondent Billy headed back to his corner. Resto approached Billy’s corner for the customary handshake with the opponent’s trainer. When Mr. Collins grabbed Resto’s glove, he felt nothing but knuckles. Resto winced in obvious pain.

The senior Collins couldn’t believe it. He immediately demanded that the New York State Boxing Commission impound the gloves and investigate.

Initially, Billy lost a 10-round unanimous decision, but it was later ruled a “no contest” when it was discovered that Resto’s gloves had been tampered with by his trainer, Lewis.

What came to light during the criminal investigation was that just before the fight, Lewis removed padding from the gloves and basically turned them from protective gear into lethal weapons.

As a result of this criminal intent, Lewis and Resto were convicted of assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a deadly weapon in October of 1986. Lewis was incarcerated for one year while Resto served almost two years of a three-year sentence. Both he and Lewis were banned from boxing for life.

Billy’s injuries from that fight left him with permanent eye damage and doctors informed him he would eventually go blind. Those injuries ended his once promising career.

On June 16, 1983 they stole Billy’s future and his life. Billy died -- under suspicious circumstances -- nine months after the Resto fight in a one-car accident.

The criminal actions of Lewis on June 16, 1983 came on the heels of another suspicious incident involving the questionable trainer.

On November 12, 1982 during the Aaron Pryor-Alexis Arguello WBA Light Welterweight Title fight, Lewis, Pryor’s trainer, was heard on the HBO microphones between the 13th and 14th rounds saying, “Give me the other bottle, the one I mixed, the black one.”

Pryor drank from the black bottle, and, like Popeye downing a can of spinach, arose from his stool and exploded like a man possessed on Arguello, scoring a TKO in what had been a closely contested fight.

Later, Lewis’ explanations varied regarding the “mixture”. The story he has chosen to stand by goes something like this: It was peppermint schnapps mixed with water because Pryor had an upset stomach.

It is no great secret that Pryor had a cocaine addiction. He skipped out on the drug test immediately after the fight. Coincidence?

Rock Solid Boxing President Joe McEwen, III is motivated by the memory of his friend and the late, great fighter Billy Ray Collins, Jr. The tragic, brutal and unnecessary ending to his remarkable boxing career, and the circumstances surrounding his subsequent death are vivid reminders that although boxing has made great strides over the past decades, we can never be too vigilant.

http://www.fightbeat.com/article_detail.php?AT=131

I watched this fight not too long ago but the audio wasnt great. My two cents worth is pretty immaterial but thats what we are here for. At the end of the fight Collins corner didn't appear to protest THAT much, Collins senior grabbed Resto's glove and was immediately suspicious and called for someone to take a look. Resto then retreated to his corner guilty as sin but then came back to the Collins corner after the verdict and it looked as if no more was said (as I say the audio wasnt great so maybe something was said that I missed) Collins face was a terrible mess, for anyone thats seen Eric Stoltz in Mask, he looked like Rocky Dennis with short hair (thats not intended to be funny) Collins was by far the superior boxer but got dragged into Resto's fight and paid the price, maybe the pain Resto's blows were inflicting prompted Collins to fight fire with fire, but little known to him that was a tactic that both Lewis and Resto had ensured he could never ever win with.

What happened to Billy Collins was the biggest crime in boxing since the 1960's.

And to be fair for years Panama Lewis was boycotted as a trainer by any half decent fighter, until Tyson brought him on board; now I see the man's creeping back on fighters resumes...

I remember someone posting an interview with Luis Resto a few years back. At the time he was sleeping in a cot in the basement of a gym earning a few dollars here and there. If I remember rightly the incident, or the after effects pretty much ended his life too, obviously not in the same way that it did Collins but you get my drift.

Can someone post a picture of his face, how bad was it? Was it ass bad as Kimbo fighting that Cop (that was pretty nasty)

Scrap my previous post, my memory is clearly playing tricks on me.

http://www.boxing-monthly.co.uk/content/0003/two.htm