he hurt his ankle in the benn fight,but on a whole he was never the same after mcclellan,he tried to commit suicide and was very weary of putting his all into a punch,to judge benn's career on his fights after mcclellan would be very harsh.
Utter bull**** to suggest the English are biased against the Irish. If you think the Eubank and Benn that Collins beat were anything like their primes then more fool you. Watson and Graham gave McCallum far, far harder fights than Collins did, Collins just got outclassed. Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank were both well and truly 'blunted' before they even got into the ring with Steve Collins. Collins will live off those victories for the rest of his life - sad, because they're the only significant wins he had - and both the Eubank wins were VERY debatable.
I think you have to be Brittish to truly appreciate Nigel Benn - his fight with G man is my first real memory of boxing - whatever you want to say about his losses the way he picked himself up after being punched through the ropes is the most perfect description of 'heart' that you will you see in the ring - does anyone else remember Bruno jumping up and down outside the ring like some demented cheer leader?
But boxing is weird on a stlye basis. Pavlik might KO Benn, whennobody expects it...then Benn may fight Abraham and KO him...Perfect example Ernie Shavers gave Ali, as well as others,,HELL..he had a punch too,,QUARRY KO'd him in ONE RD!!! So nobody can garauntee anyone that Benn at his best, would either clobber, or GET clobbered by anyone in the middle today... He may get beat, or not...it depends on the styles. He KO'd Barkley, BUT BArcley almost had Benn dead also against the ropes..Styles make fights, and besides, the ringside email contact I had said, " Prime or not, thre is NO shame on losing to Collins, he was a force as well " Style vs style still plays a big, confusing role
Benn fought on the edge. His desire to hurt you was so great that he was prepared to take multiple punches in order to land one of his own. This all takes it's toll and the Mclellan fight I feel was one 'tear up' too many. Anything after that was simply fighting a shadow of the man.
Favourite boxer ever. Tremendous power, unbelievable heart. One of the hardest punchers ever and one of the most thrilling fighters ever. Alfonso, i remember Bruno jumping around and cheering Benn on. You could actually hear him aswell. If my memory serves me correct, Benn was doing the same for Bruno during the McCall fight. ****ing Legend is Benn!
that is a very harsh manner to judge collins' career by, i and alot of other people would resent the fact that you say his wins over eubank and benn mean nothing.they were still forces that collins totally intimidated,he may not have been the most technically gifted but he had all the heart,chin and stamina to make it difficult for any boxer to deal with.im not saying you are a calzaghe fan (i dont know if you are) but they try to claim eubank as a significant win in the career of a HOFer,if this is true then two victories of a closer to prime eubank must also hold case. benn may not have been the animal he was in the past prior to the mccellan fight but he did ko two very capable boxers post it along with a contentious decision at the hands of malinga,to say that he was 'blunted' is simply ignorant as he was definatly a solid operator who simply got overrun by a hungrier and more aggressive fighter. collins had no significant wins ... pffffffffffffff what a dumb ****ing comment, what about koing pyatt in 5?swhat about destroying craig cummings when he was at his peak in 3? and what about the 15 fight winning streak he ended his career on? to look back at collins' career in the way you did is a very disappointing approach and truly shows the inconsitency of many fans when judging a career.
Thank you. I now have a mental image of big Frank in a cheerleader outfit waving some ****ing pom-poms about. An image that will haunt me all my days.
Very good fighter. Infact the reason I'm posting in this thread is because I just received 23 fights of his in the mail today and have watched some. Benn was a ****ing monster, great speed and bone-crunching power. I would not pick anyone at 160 right now to beat him. That includes Pavlik.