Sugar boy a underrated fighter, wins over Benn and Reid and gave eubank a tough fight in eubank s prime. Facing the celtic warrior Collins. Super middle fight. The Collins who beat eubank takin on the sugar who out boxed Benn?
50/50 IMO the only reason Collins beat Eubanks was Eubanks age and the fact that he had zero killer instinct after Watson. Watching him let Collins off the hook was infuriating.
Malinga could be a difficult challenge for the right opponent but he was not really a world level operator - he was more gatekeeper. Prime for prime I'd have more confidence in Collins winning than Malinga.
If Eubank was weakened by anything by 1995 then it wasn't age, it was because he wore himself out in the previous year by going 12 rounds with Rocchigianni in February 1994, the 12 rounds with Close in May, 12 rounds with Amaral in July, 7 rounds with Storey in August, 12 rounds with Schoomer in October and 12 rounds with Wharton in December - a total of 67 rounds in about 10 months and fighting Collins only 3 months later. It was a grueling schedule which probably hastened his decline.
Its not the age its the mileage. Eubank had more fights over a longer period and many more difficult fights.
It's amazes me when anyone on here (who purports to be a hardcore fan) can't see what you just pointed out - each fighter ages differently.
That's correct but but don't try and say Eubank was shot when he fought Collins because he wasn't, the fight before against Wharton he gave one of if not the best performance of his career, there's no denying he let Collins off the hook when he had him hurt though. As for the result of this fight I'd Collins Competitive but clear UD.