Steve Collins, aka The Celtic Warrior, was one of the toughest boxers of the 20th century. Although Collins was never stopped even once in his career, he is often overlooked as one of the best middleweight boxers of his era... Steve won the WBO middleweight title after defeating Chris Pyatt in 1994, a year later he went up a weight to super-middleweight. He then took on the previously unbeaten Chris Eubank for the WBO super-middleweight title which he won by unanimous decision over 12 rounds. Collins successfully defended his title seven times including a rematch with Eubank and two successful title defenses against Nigel Benn. Collins had an aggressive style, always coming forward, overwhelming his opponents with his accurate punching combinations. He was like a rock in the ring and although not brash and arrogant like his opponents Benn and Eubank, Collins had a quiet confidence and no-nonsense attitude in the ring. He only lost 3 of his 39 fights as a professional boxer, all 3 defeats were points decisions, (one being a split decision), all against world champion boxers. . Steve Collins retired in 1999 with a run of 15 straight wins to his credit, and will always be remembered as an unbelievably tough fighter with so much steely determination and self belief, and a man who truly lived up to his alias, The Celtic Warrior. how does one view the former MW and SMW champion in retrospect?? with victories over the likes of benn/eubank,pyatt etc
Hes a very good fighter. I dont rate him that highly, His best wins over benn/eubank occured on the tail end of their careers, when they were already past their primes. So i dont rate him that highly to be honest. I dont think he was one of the best supermiddles :?. But he seized the oppurtunity and made his money i guess:good
that may well be the case but you overlook the fact that collins too was at the tail end of his career having (like eubank and benn) been in numerous tear ups along the way,hes the same age as eubank and older than nigel benn.. the 3 of them where slightly past their best,benn especially. overlooked fighter IMO not the best boxer ever but epitomised so many things i love about fighters
Lost alot of respect by avoiding Calzaghe, Joe was very much high risk low reward at the time though. Very tough guy
just thinking about him the other day...fun fighter to watch, all balls, underrated skills. quite a good boxer and fighter who would have given benn and eubank (especially the latter) a tough contest on even their best night. in the great super middle era of the mid 90s he may have the best record of the bunch...still, i have both eubank and benn ranked higher
I liked Steve,he was crude at times and didn't have concussive power,but his fights were entertaining and he seemed to be able to connect with clean accurate punche's even though he was a bit of a mauler.He was like Froch in some respects (attitude and will power). Shame that health problems cut his career short.While i don't think he'd have beaten RJJ i'm sure he'd have made a fight of it before losing on the scorecards.
Very good fighter with a few "buts" beside his name. Benn was done. The Benn that fought Steve was a shadow of his former self. He'd had too many wars. The Eubank fights were not as straightfoward as the results make it look. He was lucky to get the nod in the second and Eubank could have stopped him in the first, no question in my mind. He was in deep, deep trouble in the 10th and Eubank stood off. Tough, tough guy though. Shame he didnt fight Calzaghe. That would have been a tear up.
i thought steve collins was a real tough fighter , liked watching him with his come forward aggressive style. The wins over benn/eubank were faded versions of the great but still good wins all the same. very underrated and for me a really good sturdy world champion!!!!!!
its a myth that they were past their primes. Eubank was unbeaten when he beat him. Collins was the same age as Benn and two years younger than Eubank!
Plus he was 2 and a half years younger, fresher and much better prepared then the version Calzaghe fought, and that was still a good version.
I boxed a 3 round exhibition with Collins a few years back, and done another round with him earlier this year for charity. He's quite a heavy guy now, and he's a hell of a long way from where he was when I spent 3 rounds with him. I can say this for the guy - he is tough. I found him to be fairly hittable, but he keeps coming forward, which is very unnerving. All round good boxer, he is the perfect example of a boxer who made it to the top by getting the very best out of his limited skill set. In addition to this, he really is a top bloke.