Steve Collins: "Roy Jones ducked me"

I said that Roy didn’t avoid him.

 

LMMFAO. My Man!!!!!!

 

It's pretty much a given that Roy ducked / avoided Collins.

Collins wanted the fight, BADLY.

And it didn't happen. So you can use the word 'ducked' or if you prefer, 'avoided.'

The notion that HBO wouldn't have aired a RJJ - Collins fight is preposterous.
In 1999, Roy could have fought my uncle Davey and HBO would have shown the event.


It had nothing to do with Roy being the slightest bit concerned about how the fight would go.

Barring a near miracle, Roy would have handled Collins with ease, taking a wide UD or a KO.

He avoided him in the same way that Lennox 'avoided' Chris Byrd.
He didn't believe it was a fight that was needed

For whatever reasons, though, Roy avoided Steve.

And it burns Steve's ass to this day.

 

Roy had no incentive to fight Collins or the other Europeans. He was the nearly unquestioned top PfP fighter in the sport and had a massive, sweetheart deal with HBO. If you wanted a shot at Roy, you came to him.

I don't blame DM for sticking in Germany where his bread was buttered, either. It just didn't come together. Roy's run at 175 is diminished by lack of available comp. Calzaghe was getting established below that weight and it would be another 8-10 years before the new crew came through.

Roy lost interest in training and started inventing challenges for himself like playing basketball on the same day he had a fight. Or taking a speaking part in the Matrix, or developing his own cologne line or whatever. He wasn't going to give all that up to chase Steve Collins in a fight no one really cared about except Steve.

 

Interesting, thanks for the insight.

 

Part of me does agree with this. We know that Roy didn’t want to box Benn after the McClellan fight too. What happened to Gerald, definitely shook him.

 

Agree, that was Jones last great performance at 175lbs before he boxed Ruiz in his next fight.

 

Jones has openly said that at his time at 168lbs Eubank would have been his hardest fight, if they had ever boxed.

 

I agree that he beat Eubank clearly in both fights, I couldn’t believe the 2nd fight was only on a split. He clearly won 9 out of the 12 rounds.

 

Good post, I loved this era at super middle.

 

That’s not what happened.

 

Okay.

Could you point out which sentence or sentences in the post were in error ?

 

Most of it.

Roy didn’t avoid him.

What I said about HBO is 100%.

Go and watch the video that the TS posted.

Look at the graphic they put up.

Watch what Merchant signed off with.

 

What Larry said off the cuff, after a few shots, is NOT what drove HBO decisions on wha to broadcast.

In 1999, Roy was an unbeaten superstar and would have been broadcast regardless of who he fought.


DO you think there was a lot of demand for Fury-Chisora (3) ?

The decision rested solely with Fury, just as a decision to fight Collins would have rested with Roy and Roy alone.

Roy could have made the fight if he wanted it.

And no, Collins would not fight a few warm-ups...he was an ex champ who had already paid his dues, interested in ONLY one opponent.


As I said, Roy would have with 99 % certainty, won the fight.

And Roy knew that...he wasn't worried about the possibility of losing.


But he did avoid Collins.

 

I’ve already told you what Lou DiBella said.

Over the years, this has been discussed numerous times at length.

I personally have uploaded various links, including videos, interviews and book excerpts etc.

Steve Collins had paid his dues. For sure. But you can’t just look from his sole perspective.

In early 1999, the fights with Eubank had been nearly 4 years earlier.

The fights with Benn had been nearly 3 years earlier.

He hadn’t fought in 2 full years.

He’d never fought at LHW.

His last 2 fights had been against 2 Euro level fighters.

There was no demand in the U.S. for a fight with Roy.

Collins was respected, but not a draw, and not really relevant in 1999.

HBO had just aired the Grant and the Frazier fights.

DiBella told Murad Muhammad that they did not want to air a Collins fight. They wanted Roy to instead fight Reggie Johnson.

It was an undisputed LHW fight. Against a named fighter. A guy who’d beaten Collins, and who’d impressed in a recent win over a good prospect in William Guthrie.

Murad then went to Roy and told him to take the unification fight instead. For more money, and for the opportunity to become the undisputed LHW champion.

HBO didn’t want that fight.

They wanted him to fight Hopkins, Dariusz, Reggie and Telesco.

He then went on and fought Reggie and Telesco, whereas Collins was forced to retire.

So how did he avoid him exactly?

He didn’t.

The world didn’t revolve around Steve Collins.

If Collins had been a rival LHW champion or something, where the circumstances were different, then I’m sure that Roy would have taken the fight.

Why would Roy have avoided a former SMW, who hadn’t fought a meaningful fight in 3 years, or any fight at all in 2 years?

There was no reason for him to have avoided that fight.

He’d actually agreed to take the fight, until Muhammad had spoken to DiBella, and then Muhammad had advised him not to take it.

Could he still have gone ahead with it? Yes. But why would he, when he had a better option, to become the undisputed LHW champion?

Going with a better option does not constitute as a duck.

it’s simply not the same thing.

He didn’t avoid him.

If Collins hadn’t retired and have gotten back into the mix, then it could have happened down the line at some point.