okay, no one is claiming there are no cultural links and apologies if my response sounded very re-active. in fairness collins is always included in that "great period of british super middleweights". calzaghe even refers to him as a british super middleweight in his auto biography. collins isn't the only irish fighter that falls into this category. i've seen barry mcguigan introduced on a question of sport as "one of the greatest fighters this country ever produced"- the guy was born in clones in monaghan. just last year i saw a blogger on ring.tv describe how two UK fighters (khan and dunne) had suffered 1st round KO's & gone on to win world titles. dunne again is from dublin and never even fought in britain as a pro. i could go on and on, generally the guy is recognised as being irish until he gets succesful then he's claimed by britain (watch this space for mccloskey, lindsay & magee in 2011) and should they happen to fall from grace they become irish again. jack doyle possibly being the prime example. it's not restricted to boxing either- george best is described as britains best ever footballer but when it comes to discussing his alcolohism he's a crazy irishman!!!! RANT OVER....
It's really suprising how Collins did so well against Reggie Johnson, who might've been the best technican out there at the time. Maybe I underrated him-I only got to see this Collins-Johnson fight weeks ago. I actually thought Collins Won by a few rounds! And I score Johnson beating Toney by a few rounds. Jones and Johnson were sparring partners in '92-'93 and it's no secret Johnson used to get the better of him; Roy Jones Sr confirming it (even using to wind Jr up years on). Collins, though, couldn't hit Kalambay or Eubank (I) with a handful of rice 75% of those fights, and was taken to the classroom and cleaners by McCallum. I also thought he was very lucky to get the decision against Thornton, although he did nearly lose his ear (!). The Thornton fight, shockingly, has Collins moving and boxing in every minute of every round.
Another interesting thing is the Roach connection coming from Freddie giving Collins advise prior to Steve's pro debut (Roach was fighting on the same card) in 1986 and they trained together a few times, before hooking up again nearly 10 years later. Looking at Collins's fights - McCallum, Benn x 2, Eubank x 2, Kalambay, Reggie Johnson, Tony Thornton, Kevin Watts, Frederic Seiller, Chris Pyatt. That's 8 or 10 world-class opponents, 6 or 8 extremely tough nights. He won his first 16 fights and his last 15 fights. It is v.underrated when I look now, Collins.
the johnson fight could have gone either way, it was a pity collins got dragged into a bit of niggling and got a point deducted. incidentally collins was only ever beaten in title fights and was never stopped. the attached link shows him calling out jones as early as 1995- fast forward to 6:20; [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxf82Uvo_v8[/ame]
Prime Roy would have had a fairly easy night with Collins, Eubank and even Benn (as much as it hurts me to say it). Roy was on another level to anybody at 168.
Steve didn't even know how to punch before he came to England, he was arm punching and shoulder punching until Freddie King at Matchroom showed him how to punch from the foot. Then he started putting guys down. Raw material but very effective raw material at a high level. A very good fighter.
RJj in his prime was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast for a prime Collins. I agree that Collins probably wouldn't have been KO'd because he was a tough ****er but I cannot see RJj losing more than two rounds at the worst. Now a prime RJJ vs James DeGale is another thing altogether.
ireland was ruled by britain from 1159 up to 1921. the southern part of ireland gained a relative degree of independence in 1921 and the north of ireland still remains under british rule. in 1948 the south was declared a republic and cut all formal ties with britain.
Jones beat much better fighters than Collins such as the great James Toney including guys who beat Collins like Reggie Johnson. Collins was a game lad but is also overrated. He was not a great fighter.