Funny you should ask this, i recently came across a video on youtube, a supermiddle weight face off with jones, eubank, Collins, woodhall, calzaghe presented by Jonny nelson and this issue was hotly disputed. Collins ducked calzaghe, he also comes off as a right twat
I think Collins would have won it. I think there's a lot of revisionism surrounding this because of what Calzaghe went on to achieve. Collins didn't fear Calzaghe, he just couldn't get motivated. Strange thing, and maybe he should have bit the bullet and gone through with it. I feel he was beaten down by the business side of things and he realized he needed that RJJ payday and the personal challenge of it to justify hanging around in the sport. I tend to believe that, because he stayed away.
You love Collins, unf. All I really remember about him, to be honest, is his beautiful rant after he beat Eubank. "We fooled the world!"? That one? I've watched since but that's all i really remember about him then.
I don't know if I love him but he was a good tough fighter. His career is a bit underrated and overlooked. He came up quite hard fighting the best in the world. People remember his Brit years when he came good and beat a possibly fading Eubank and a certainly shot Benn, but he'd actually faced better fighters than that before, McCallum and Kalambay most notably. Against common opponents or a similar level of opponent, he was probably at least an equal with a prime Watson, Benn or Eubank.
I agree with Bulldog. Collins wades through Joe's slappy punches and dumps him with the overhand right. Not sure who would win in the end, but by no means is Calzaghe vastly superior. I think Collins would give him hell (he was tougher and defeated better competition than Kessler) and I would make it a pick em fight.
Watched a lot of Collins' fights, even met him and drank at his brother's bar (for whatever that might mean). Prime for prime, no way in hell he beats Calzaghe. Steve was durable and had underrated skills but wasn't exactly imaginative or nearly as talented as Joe. I'm seeing a convincing unanimous decision.
1997 Calzaghe wasn't prime though. He got a much easier fight against a faded weight-drained Eubank (who'd been scheduled to box at 175 and then came down to 168 on eleven days notice) than he would have been up against with Steve Collins. And Eubank proved quite tough for the young Calzaghe. Calzaghe had never been past the 8th round, and had faced a lot of tomato cans. 12 rounds with a weight-drained over-the-hill Eubank was an achievement. His next fight to go 12 rounds, he got a disputed split-decision over Robin Reid. Steve Collins was remarkably strong in the second half of 12-round fights. He was favoured to beat Calzaghe, and I believe those odds were correct. Collins would have beat him at that point.
Sorry, I thought this was head to head in a prime for prime sense. Yeah, in 97 this would have been a tougher fight. In regards to the odds, no one knew how good Calzaghe was yet. And also, Collins was past his best. I think he even tested poorly on CAT scans with some brain irregularities. I see it as two ships passing, one up and one down. I'm still sticking with the one on its way up. But yes, a stern test for the younger fighter.
