Steve Collins

collins definitely deserves to rated up there with benn and eubank.
i thought he was fortunate to get the nod over eubank in their first fight imo he didn't knock eubank down who in turn put collins down only for it to be called a slip

losses to mccallum,kalumbay and reggie johnson are no disgrace taking into account how good they were

there were rumours going round before the calzaghe fight that wasn't that he'd been put on his arse a few times in sparring.

 

He was a good fighter and I also think he should be up there with Benn and Eubank. I dont think he was underated but I thought he was a bit overated in the 90's "during the whole Roy Jones sweepstakes". I thought Jones would easily handle him, he was too slow, and a lot of people accused Jones of ducking him.

 

He was a very good fighter imo, a sort of lower level Gene fullmer.Ugly sloppy style, but could box or brawl well, threw loads of punches, strong as hell and durable.

Did well against McCallum once he changed his tactics from sticking and moving to walking Mike down.McCallum had a huge round in the middle of the fight that would have fnished a lot of fighters, but Collins actually got right into the fight after it.A clear loss, but an honourable one for a young fighter.

The Johnson fight i thought was very close.Been a while since i watched it however.


Kalambay loss was an odd one, as Collins was probably at his best as far as the combo between physical ability and experience goes, while Kalambay looked a near shot fighter in some of his previous euro title defences.You would have expected Collins aggression and workrate to be far too much at this stage, but i thought he was lucky if he edged 4 rounds and ended up hitting air all night.

I watched the Eubank fights a few days ago and scored the first for Eubank by four points. I don't know if i would call it a robbery, as a lot of the rounds were tight and hard to score.I didn't give Collins a 10-8 round for the inconsequential knockdown he scored, and Eubank getting four points from the last three rounds sealed it for me.

 

eubank,up till that fight had been given some dodgy decisions so i think his luck just ran out

 

yeah, it was certainly the kind of fight he had been given over and over previously.

Eubank was king of the close decision win, thoguh the only outright gift he got was against Schommer imo.Ironically maybe the worst fighter he defended against.

 

Eastman apparently sparred him (and Eubank) in sparring

Overrated IMO got Benn/Eubank whenn they past it

 

benn had gone.he had nowt after mcclellan did he ??

 

Didn't want to hurt people I reckon. Mentally gone more than anything

 

I think collins is one of the most over rated fighters of the 90's! made his name beating a old eubank, by the the way i had eubank beating him by 2 rounds in the first fight, and beating a washed up nigel benn. Every time collins faced a fighter who wasnt over the hill he got beat! mccallum and johnson both boxed the ears of him, to be fair he showed great heart in both fights, even a just past his prime kalambay beat him. Also he avoided joe calzaghe, he was happy to beat up on old fighters but he wanted nothing to do with a fresh hungry lion like calzaghe. I dont think he would of lived with a prime watson, benn or eubank, he would of got a beating of all 3 of them. Also heard that back in the early 90's he really avoided herol graham, and avoided graham when he made a comeback aswel. Any one else heard that?

 

Not this.

 

It's strange seeing Collins throwing sharp combinations against Kalambay and short counters against Johnson, and circling McCallum! For those who only first watched him against Eubank and thereafter...

I was a big boxing follower but hadn't seen Collins fight until Pyatt, who he was three weights bigger than.

He boxes on the move for 12 rounds in his US title defense!

In the UK/Ireland against Eubank the second time and the rest of the world title defenses, he was just a marauding warrior with **** technique and poor speed.

 

I heard he encountered health problems training for Calzaghe, i.e. dizzy spells, fainting, and insonmia, similar to Zack Padillia's sudden health problem and subsequent retirement.

 

fantastic bump

 

yeah but i think he got to the point that he was trying to outwork his man. most of men where older and not workrate based fighters.

i think he is pretty tight defensively, even when he throws big right hands he seems to get his body out of the way of the line of fire and be ready to throw a left hook. he is the brawler who learned to box.


good champion. but wasnt the fighter he was in his youth.