Someone Please Educate Me about Steve Collins

[BIG H]

Word is that he was getting beaten up by juniors in sparring before the Calzaghe fight and hence pulled out

Don't know how much truth there is in that

[Jimanuel Boogustus]

I heard Freddy Roach and Steve Collins have the same Father.... Some Irish guy called Micky Ward

Who knows eh?


Apparently (i read somewhere), Collins old trainer (or his trainers old instructions) forced him to fight too technically and it never seemed to pay dividens when it matterd (his early losses).

Collins was never entirely ragged, but when he let it hang out a bit more he kinda found himself.
Even grew a goatee for added effect :P

[WWatt]

I remember he took an Irish news crew to Roy Jones's house in Pensacola! Think it was early '99 when Collins said he'd only come out of retirement for Jones. Jones shut the door on them.

Seriously though, the guys a fruitcake. He still think he'd have beaten Roy Jones.

He said in the post-fight interview at Mill Street "Not only am I the greatest Irish fighter ever, but I'm the best pound-for-pound in the world!"

Guy couldn't punch his way out of a paper bag, and just seemed to have zero talent.

[JT Rock]

Thanks for the info guys! Everyone of you that responded recieved a

[ICB]

Thanks for the info guys! Everyone of you that responded recieved a

[tedsares]

Maybe it's my imagination, but Steve "Celtic Warrior" Collins seems to have been forgotten by those who cast votes at the Hall in Canastota. Let's examine this Dubliner's record and see if we can uncover the reasons.

Record: As an amature he won he won 26 Irish titles at junior heavyweight, light-heavyweight and middleweight before moving to and turning professional in Massachesetts in 1986 where he was trained by Boston-based Freddie Roach. He also worked out of the Brocton gym of the Boston-based Petronelli brothers who trained his idol Marvellous Marvin Hagler.

He won his first 16 professional bouts fighting out of the Boston area. His final professional record was 36-3 with 21 ko's.

Level of opposition: Extremely high.

Chronology: Among his early victims were Sam Storey (for the Irish Middleweight Title), rugged Tony Thorton and Kevin "Killer" Watts (for the USBA Middleweight Title.)

He lost to Mike McCallum in 1990 for the WBA Middleweight Title in a close fight I attended. He then rebounded with 5 straight victories including wins over over tough Eddie Hall and Dan Morgan. He lost a razor thin and controversial MD to Reggie Johnson and a close UD to Sumbu Kalambay.

A discouraged Collins finally won the WBA Penta-Continental Middleweight Title in 1993 by ko win over South African Gerhard Botes. A year later he garnered the WBO Middleweight Title by a ko over the very capable Chris Pyatt in South Yorkshire, England. He would go on to win 15 straight to close out his career (the last 5 by stoppage). More importnantly, during this streak, he fought and beat Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn twice. Benn, who had been though a gruelling battle with Gerald McClellan, quickly got the message that his punching power was not good enough to stop concretee-chin Collins. Due to some brain scan issues, Steve found himself stepping into Ray Close’s shoes to meet Chris Eubank and he proceeded to beat the great English fighter twice. By the time he accomplisde this remarkable feat, he was the reigning W.B.O. Middleweight champ, a fact still overlooked to the present day.

In all, he would succesfuly defend his new Super Middleweight title 8 times before retiring in1997 with a tko win over Craig Cummings, 34-2, in 3 rounds. Curiously, he had begun his career in 1986 with a 3 round tko over one Julio Mercado in Lowell, MA. Amazingly, he had book-ended his career with 16 in the beginning and 15 at the end with the tko's as icing on the cake.

The quintessential professional, Steve was a road warrior having fought in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland, France, Italy, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, The Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey and in and around the Boston area. More to the point, he was an extremely tough, seasoned, iron-chined, determined and talented fighter who had long paid his dues training in the Boston area. He was considered to be one of the toughest pound-fo- pound fighters of the late 90's having never been stopped in a high profile career.

One of his great regrets was to have never fought Roy Jones Jr. In fact, he is reported to have stated that he had spent so long chasing Roy, money was no longer an important factor and he would fight him in a phone box in front of two men and a dog. However, his attempts to get Roy into the ring ended when he collapsed during a training session. Medics told him to hang up his gloves for good and he did. Steve retired Northern Ireland and has pretty much maintained a low profile. Maybe this is the reason he has been overlooked by the Hall.

[Saddo]

Also I wish I had the clip of Collins sagging on the ropes on his a***, only for Chris to stand off and let him back in to it

I remember that well i had a bet on eubank knocking him out in that round i was screaming at the telly at the time.... it was rd 10 by the way

was never that big one colins really and am of the opinion he ducked Calzaghe bigtime.

[Hacienda]

Also I wish I had the clip of Collins sagging on the ropes on his a***, only for Chris to stand off and let him back in to it

I remember that well i had a bet on eubank knocking him out in that round i was screaming at the telly at the time.... it was rd 10 by the way

was never that big one colins really and am of the opinion he ducked Calzaghe bigtime.

I think Collins knew that every tool that could beat him, Calzaghe possesed.

[Tysonbruno]

Also I wish I had the clip of Collins sagging on the ropes on his a***, only for Chris to stand off and let him back in to it

I remember that well i had a bet on eubank knocking him out in that round i was screaming at the telly at the time.... it was rd 10 by the way

was never that big one colins really and am of the opinion he ducked Calzaghe bigtime.

I think Collins knew that every tool that could beat him, Calzaghe possesed.

I think Collins new it was just the right time to get out of the sport don't think Calzaghe bothered him at all

[ross]

Ok, he knew after all the promoting of his defence versus Calzaghe that it was time to pull out.

It was after he had a few too many beatings by sparring partners and knowing that Joe had quick hands and apparent power that persuaded him to run for the hills, at leasy eubank had the balls to drop 20lbs in a week and give it a shot.

Eubank had Joe the most hurt hes ever been in the dying seconds of that fight

I remember being a Eubank fan and after seeing the 4 or 5 televised Calzaghe fights before hand that Joe was shite and Chris would have enough skill (even drained) to see him off.

Joe did alot better than I expected, and Chris seemed to have nothing, fighting off the ropes

[CutMeMick]

Maybe it's my imagination, but Steve "Celtic Warrior" Collins seems to have been forgotten by those who cast votes at the Hall in Canastota. Let's examine this Dubliner's record and see if we can uncover the reasons.

Record: As an amature he won he won 26 Irish titles at junior heavyweight, light-heavyweight and middleweight before moving to and turning professional in Massachesetts in 1986 where he was trained by Boston-based Freddie Roach. He also worked out of the Brocton gym of the Boston-based Petronelli brothers who trained his idol Marvellous Marvin Hagler.

He won his first 16 professional bouts fighting out of the Boston area. His final professional record was 36-3 with 21 ko's.

Level of opposition: Extremely high.

Chronology: Among his early victims were Sam Storey (for the Irish Middleweight Title), rugged Tony Thorton and Kevin "Killer" Watts (for the USBA Middleweight Title.)

He lost to Mike McCallum in 1990 for the WBA Middleweight Title in a close fight I attended. He then rebounded with 5 straight victories including wins over over tough Eddie Hall and Dan Morgan. He lost a razor thin and controversial MD to Reggie Johnson and a close UD to Sumbu Kalambay.

A discouraged Collins finally won the WBA Penta-Continental Middleweight Title in 1993 by ko win over South African Gerhard Botes. A year later he garnered the WBO Middleweight Title by a ko over the very capable Chris Pyatt in South Yorkshire, England. He would go on to win 15 straight to close out his career (the last 5 by stoppage). More importnantly, during this streak, he fought and beat Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn twice. Benn, who had been though a gruelling battle with Gerald McClellan, quickly got the message that his punching power was not good enough to stop concretee-chin Collins. Due to some brain scan issues, Steve found himself stepping into Ray Close’s shoes to meet Chris Eubank and he proceeded to beat the great English fighter twice. By the time he accomplisde this remarkable feat, he was the reigning W.B.O. Middleweight champ, a fact still overlooked to the present day.

In all, he would succesfuly defend his new Super Middleweight title 8 times before retiring in1997 with a tko win over Craig Cummings, 34-2, in 3 rounds. Curiously, he had begun his career in 1986 with a 3 round tko over one Julio Mercado in Lowell, MA. Amazingly, he had book-ended his career with 16 in the beginning and 15 at the end with the tko's as icing on the cake.

The quintessential professional, Steve was a road warrior having fought in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland, France, Italy, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, The Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey and in and around the Boston area. More to the point, he was an extremely tough, seasoned, iron-chined, determined and talented fighter who had long paid his dues training in the Boston area. He was considered to be one of the toughest pound-fo- pound fighters of the late 90's having never been stopped in a high profile career.

One of his great regrets was to have never fought Roy Jones Jr. In fact, he is reported to have stated that he had spent so long chasing Roy, money was no longer an important factor and he would fight him in a phone box in front of two men and a dog. However, his attempts to get Roy into the ring ended when he collapsed during a training session. Medics told him to hang up his gloves for good and he did. Steve retired Northern Ireland and has pretty much maintained a low profile. Maybe this is the reason he has been overlooked by the Hall.

CC#56 on me Ted....
Very well said