Michael Collins

Michael Collins has been a senior writer with Boxing247.com (East Side Boxing) since 2012, bringing over a decade of experience to his coverage of the sport. Known for his steady reporting and clear analysis, he has written extensively on world title fights, contenders, and emerging prospects across the global boxing scene.

Michael’s work combines timely news with thoughtful features, giving fans both ringside detail and broader perspective on the stories shaping boxing today. With his consistency and depth, he remains a respected and trusted voice in the boxing community.

Hearn wants to match Froch v Golovkin at 168 in 2014

golovkin888WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin’s 3rd round destruction of the UK’s Matthew Macklin last Saturday night has Eddie Hearn, the promoter for IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch, highly interested in staging a fight between Froch and Golovkin in 2014.

Hearn thinks he can put the fight together by mid-year in 2014 if everything goes right. There wouldn’t be a catch-weight it seems, as Hearn wants Golovkin to come up to 168 for the fight.

Hearn said to Sky Sports, “Golovkin is a freak of nature; he’s a beast. According to HBO he’d be willing to step up to super middleweight and a fight with Carl Froch would be just epic.

Crolla beats Rees by a controversial decision

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In a highly controversial decision, Anthony Crolla (26-4-1,9 KO’s) labored to a 12 round majority over Gavin (37-3-1, 18 KO’s) to grab the vacant WBO Inter-Continental lightweight title at the Bolton Arena, Bolton, Lancashire, United Kingdom. The judges scores were 115-113 and 116-113 for Crolla, and 115-115 even. This was a really strange fight, because I’ve never seen a fighter get out-landed and outworked as much as I saw Crolla, and yet still win the fight. Talk about your controversial decisions.

It was a very questionable decision in that Rees landed more shots in every round of the fight, was the much busier guy in every round, and landed the cleaner shots. I saw Rees winning almost the rounds. The only rounds I could give Crolla were the 3rd and 11th, and even in those rounds, Rees outlanded him.

Crolla had the crowd in his favor big time in this fight, and the outcome was not surprising. Crolla was getting cheered even when he missing shots; whereas the crowd was deathly silent each time Rees landed, which quite often.

Sanchez: Golovkin will blast out Macklin within 5 rounds

golovkin33Matthew Macklin (29-4, 20 KO’s) is really up against it tonight with his fight against IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) on HBO. Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez sees this fight not lasting more than 5 rounds tops, and the rest of the boxing world pretty much sees the same thing happening.

Macklin is simply made to order for Golovkin to knockout in their fight at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort, in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

Sanchez said to RingTV “Macklin’s a warrior but he’s going to stand in front of get blown out…I don’t think the fight goes past 5.

Ricky Burns vs. Raymundo Beltran a done deal for September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland

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Raymundo Beltran (28-6, 17 KO’s) will be WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns’ next challenger and the two will be fighting on September 7th at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Beltran is promoted by Top Rank, and if Burns beats him, Burns could then be facing undefeated Top Rank promoted lightweight Terrence Crawford in 2014, if Burns agrees to take the fight.

That’s a big IF because Burns had chances to fight Adrien Broner two occasions and he chose not to. Crawford is at least as dangerous as Broner, if not more, and the way that Burns looked in his last fight against Jose Gonzalez last month, it would be a really tough fight for Burns against Crawford.

Beltran’s a good fighter, but he’s also been beat twice in the last couple of years in defeats against Luis Ramos Jr. and Sharif Bogere. Let’s not get it twisted about what this fight is all about. Burn’s promoter is clearly putting him in with a guy that they feel he can beat and won’t be much of a threat to beat him.

Broner wins the fight, but Malignaggi wins the event

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We learned some things tonight in watching Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KO’s) battle hard to barely beat WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-5, 7 KO’s) by a 12 round split decision in a fight televised by Showtime. We learned that Broner isn’t cut out for the welterweight division. Malignaggi clearly showed that by almost beating Broner.

We saw that unless Broner moves back down to the lightweight division, he could end up as little more than just a contender in the future. We learned that Broner’s power isn’t as lethal at welterweight compared to when he was fighting at lightweight.

Malignaggi exposed Broner’s flat-footed fighting style and was able to easily outmaneuver him in the ring for much of the fight. It often took Broner too long to get his shots off because he often waited too long before he’d let his hands go.

Ricky Burns to defend against Raymundo Beltran on September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland

burns6WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2, 11 KO’s) got his difficult title defense against Jose Gonzalez out of the way in beating him by a 9th round TKO last May, and now Burns will be making what should be a lot easier title defense against #8 WBO 8 Raymundo Beltran (28-6, 17 KO’s) on September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland.

If Burns beats Beltran, he will likely face the winner of the Gavin Rees vs. Anthony Crolla fight next. That’ll give Burns two relatively easy fights back to back before he has to take on someone dangerous like Sergio Thompson, Omar Figueroa or Terrence Crawford. That’s where Burns will really be tested.

Beltran is a good fighter, but he’s already lost at the top rungs of the division recently in defeats against Luis Ramos Jr. and Sharif Bogere. Beltran did defeat Hank Lundy and Ji-Hoon Kim recently, but those guys aren’t in the same class as Burns and it’s not the same thing.

Cleverly vs. Kovalev on August 17th in Wales

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Big punching unbeaten light heavyweight contender Sergey Kovalev (21-0-1, 19 KO’s) will be facing WBO 175 lb. champion Nathan Cleverly (26-0, 12 KO’s) on August 17th in a fight that will be televised by HBO as part of a possible triple-header with IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale defending his title against challenger Darren Barker in a different location, and IBF super bantamweight champion Jonathan Romero facing an opponent still to be determined.

The Cleverly-Kovalev fight will be staged at the Motorpoint Arena, in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.

This will be one of the rare fights for Cleverly where he’s fighting someone that actually is a really good fighter and who has a chance to beat him. You can’t say that about a lot of the guys that Cleverly has been fighting since he picked up the WBO 175 lb. title in 2011. There’s been a lot of weak opposition that Cleverly has been facing and it’s nice to see him fight a live body for a change.

Bellew: Adonis Stevenson won’t last long as champion if I can help it

bellew33Now that Adonis Stevenson (21-1, 18 KO’s) has the WBC light heavyweight title after obliterating Chad Dawson in one round, Britain’s Tony Bellew, the #1 WBC 175 lb. contender, has come out of the woodwork and he wants his shot at Stevenson’s new WBC title and he likes his chances in beating the 35-year-old.

Bellew said to Sky Sports “He’s [Stevenson] the one I’d have preferred to face…it’s not going to last long…Adonis Stevenson is wild and gives you opportunities. So I don’t think he’s going to be a long-standing champion, especially if I’ve got anything to do with it.”