Eubank Sr: Canelo is #1 P4P! Collins toughest man in history!

Things were much better in the old days blah blah blah...

It's called declinism. The idea that standards are in a state of decline and are not as good has they used to be. We always think that things were much better in the past because of the way we remember things. Because we retell the good memories more often we reinforce them in our memories like songs, funny events, boxers, footballers etc. We think of past experiences much more positively than we do at the time that we're experiencing them.

My point is, you're doing exactly that the way you're remembering fighters like Eubank, Benn, Watson etc in your heads the current crop wouldn't lay a glove on them and they're technically not had good has they were then.

Guess what, teenagers now will be doing the same in 25-30 years time harping on about the generation right now and how good they were.

Reminisce with fondness, there's nowt wrong with that...but the 'things were better in our day' scenario you play in your heads, it's just human psychology.

 

Excellent post twentyman! ^

 

Completely wrong.
Collins suffered a head-injury scare, collapsed in sparring and THATS why he"pulled out". It was a medical matter. This is well known. Well, it's known to informed fans anyway! Why do you post such dishonest versions of what happened.?

 

Thats not entirely true though according to Collins he had never signed or discussed the fight with Warren. Obviously it depends who you believe i guess.

Collins used the same excuses Calzaghe used to not fight Froch.

 

Good post twenty a lot of truth in that post. But not sure i completely agree. I m only 36 btw not a 50 year old just yet. When i watched benn/eubank etc i was maybe a bit too young to know what was going on. But looking back on it now for me its clear to see technically the standard and the depths went way down. Would the current crop beat the guys from back then. I m saying maybe. They changed the game not long after benn/eubanks day etc for me. They overthought it to its detriment in the end. Its all about sport science nowadays being strong/good nutrition/good stamina/strategising for fights rather than working on skills and over all game. The price they ve paid for it is the skill levels went way down. Look at carl froch for an example. He pretty much was in the top 3 of the division for a while...world champion etc. Now tell me what his skills we,re? He wasnt fast. He wasnt a power puncher. His footwork wasnt great. His accuracy wasnt great. Jab wasnt great. His punch variety wasnt great. He needed his trainer to constantly tell him what to do. The closest they had to froch was collins. But collins back then wasnt good enough to win world titles against the crop back then when they we,re in their primes. He did beat benn and eubank but it was after their primes. They we,re on the downward slide. Benn was finished. Eubank was never as good after watson. Roy jones would have played with collins. Toney would have played with him also. I think he did lose a couple of times before he fought eubank/benn against a couple of good guys. Froch back then would have been lucky to be in that top ten.

Even just look at eubanks skill level compared to froch. He could throw pretty much any punch well. Good jab. Could control a fight. Had good one punch power. Movement was quality. Could box or fight. Could think for himself. Plus had the heart chin and determination to match froch. Froch at world level ended up just running into opponents with flurries of punches most of the world level opponents couldnt even move round the ring well to get out the way. That direll had decent movement. Froch couldnt really get near him. All the guys back then had good movement could move round the ring well. Plus they could hit harder than dirrell ever could. I m saying guys like froch etc,s doing so well because the skill levels so low.

Very few back then we,re at the very top of the division based on grit/determination etc. You needed that skill level to be high.

Nowadays its possible. Most of these world champions have big holes in their game. Back then if you study them theres a lot less holes to find. Skill levels on a different level for me.

 

Just had a quick look at collins,s record. Outwith eubank and benn the only good win he had was tony thornton. Outside of that i dont think he had another good win. Lost to a 35 year old kallambay. A 33 year old mike mcallum. And reggie johnson. He was pretty much a nearly man. Steve was a good fighter no argument there. Skill wise he was limited. But he was similar to froch for me. At the end of the day he wasnt quite good enough to compete with the top of the division in or around their primes. Got eubank at the right time. And benn was pretty much finished. He had little left after a hard career. But benn and eubank would have both beat him 5 years earlier. You wouldnt have beat them without a very high level of skill at that point.

 

Froch was hard as nails and worn opponents down much like Collins. I personally think he was very good across the board rather than being exceptional in a particular aspect.

I don't believe the standard has dropped imo. And of course, advancements in sports science has surely only been of benefit to trainers and fighters alike.

Eubank, Benn and co fought at a time when you could watch fights of great magnitude on terrestrial television and thus they caught the imagination of the public and we remember it as a golden generation of boxing.

 

Afraid it's YOU who are incorrect, "sunshine."

Collins was due to contest a non-title bout on the supporting bill to Joe Calzaghe's World Boxing Organisation super-middleweight defence against Rick Thornberry in Cardiff on 5 June. He had then lined up an autumn meeting with the Welshman in an attempt to regain the world title, with the promise of fight against the World Boxing Council light-heavyweight champion, Roy Jones, if he won.

He wasn't preparing for jones, (and only indirectly preparing for Calzaghe). He "bottled" nothing. In all seriousness it is very silly if you to suggest he "bottled" calzaghe. I doubt Collins would bottle anyone, never mind the less-than-terrifying Calzaghe.
Calzaghe , at the time was not as feared as he became later when belatedly, late on in his career he finally faced American opposition and to be fair beat them etc. Collins , having sparred hagler and fought mccallum, kalambay, Johnson, had no reason to fear calzaghe. He collapsed in the ring...you can't have seriously expected him to fight after that...That's just silly talk.

 

Yes I know ..but in neither case (97 or 99) did he "bottle" anything.