By Lee Callan: Steve Collins, the ‘Celtic Warrior’, amassed an 82-8 amateur record that included a win over world-class Hungarian Zoltan Fuzesy. Following an Ireland-vs-USA dual meet at Yonkers Raceway in NY in 1986, Collins decided to stay in America while the rest of his Irish amateur team-mates went home. He made Brockton, MA his adopted hometown.
Steve’s idol was world middleweight king Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and he couldn’t resist showing up at the Petronelli Gym in Boston one day and asking for a try-out. One thing led to another and Steve was managed and trained by Goody and Pat Petronelli and sparring with his hero, turning professional in October 1986 on a card that included his future trainer Freddie Roach and fellow Irish warrior Mickey Ward.
Collins racked up seven quick-fire wins before facing amateur nemesis Sam Storey for the Irish middleweight title at the Boston Garden. He dealt with southpaw Storey impressively in his first ten-rounder, gaining the win and title. Storey was the classical upright boxer with nice, fast hands and Collins a fighter who mauled in from the outside with sneaky combinations and won exchanges.
A few fights later came an unexpectedly tough eight-round war with Jesse Lanton, who came out of nowhere from Brooklyn and went tooth-and-nail with Collins for much of the fight, with Collins getting the verdict. He found himself underdog against 16-0 Kronk fighter Paul McPeek, just as he had been against former amateur conqueror Storey, but pulled it out of the bag again with an aggressive, hooking, infighting stoppage win that was much more on accumulation and pressure than power.
Most of these fights were televised live on ESPN.
The big test came against ‘Killer’ Kevin Watts for the USBA title in 1989, where Collins was underdog for the third time in his two and a half year career. In a close and very competitive brawling fight between two proud warriors, Collins came out on top with the judges in his first 12-rounder, despite being dropped by a body shot in the penultimate stanza.
His next fight, against highly regarded Tony Thornton, Collins yet again was an underdog. Defending his USBA title against the come-forward, hard-punching, concrete-chinned and high-guarded Thornton, Collins completely changed his boxing style from mauler to mover, such was the respect the Petronelli brothers had for Thornton’s ability.
Showing impressive lateral movement and effective boxing skills, Collins stayed disciplined as Thornton constantly looked to close the gap, cut the ring and get in his short hard rights and good left hooks. In a very close and competitive fight, in which Collins nearly lost his ear (!), Steve was given the decision to cement himself into the world top-ten middleweights at a time when middleweight was the most stacked division in the sport.
Out of the blue, however, a world title shot against WBA champ Mike ‘Body Snatcher’ McCallum was thrown his way when McCallum needed an opponent for a ‘tune-up’ before facing mandatory Michael Watson, after Watson pulled out of their original bout (set for November 1989) at the last minute.
The 16-fight kid, eager and hungry, jumped at the chance in front of his home fans in Boston and travelling fans from Dublin. Producing a great atmosphere live on ABC, the occasion seemed to get to Collins as he was reckless and anxious early and lost the first four rounds clearly and the fifth possibly 10-8 (!) as McCallum appeared a class or two above his opponent.
Following corner advise from Goody and Pat to turn into fighter from boxer and shoot right hands instead of loading combinations, Collins dominated the sixth against the veteran Jamaican legend and bossed the second half of the fight; walking through nasty bodyshot counters, landing right hands and even having McCallum running away from him in the last few rounds.
When the cards were tallied though and the scores announced it was no suprise that McCallum had the decision, but Collins got a victory of sorts by going the full 12-round duration when McCallum said he would stop him after a ‘workout’.
Collins was firmly sealed now as a tough man of the game and ‘great white hope’ of sorts.
A second title chance came a couple of years later – during which time Collins had gone through a change of camp from Boston to Belfast, where he was encouraged to counter-punch, of which he then excelled at – as McCallum vacated the title rather than rematch mandatory Collins, allowing Collins and #2 challenger Reggie Johnson – then one of the slickest technical southpaws in the game and who had come within a whisker of beating James Toney for the IBF version – contested the title in America on the Showtime network in front of a ringside Muhammad Ali.
In a very close and very competitive foul-fested brawl between two world-class fighters at their sharpest, Collins looked to have done enough with his sneaky rights and sneaky countering to get the nod, despite a magnificent 10th round for Johnson in which he appeared as good as a southpaw version of a later, peak Roy Jones Jr. However, the judges gave a close verdict to Johnson as Collins failed in his second bid to achieve his dream of emulating Marvin Hagler by becoming a world middleweight champion.
Collins contemplated retirement in the post-fight presser of the Johnson fight. But, six months later, Barney Eastwood matched him with European champion Sumbu Kalambay. The thought was that Kalambay – a truly masterful defensive fighter and supreme counter-puncher – despite a recent win over Herol Graham and previous wins over Graham, McCallum and a string of other world-class middleweights, was slowing and weakening with age. It was thought Collins would be able to thoroughly out-work the veteran Italian, with his supposed granite jaw in place, and get a decision, despite the match being held in Italy.
Collins was again at his sharpest ever, before or after, as he had been against Johnson, and let his hands go constantly throughout the 12 rounds as Kalambay played defense and didn’t look to be sliding too much in the technical department. As the bell sounded to end the 12th, Collins, Kalambay, both camps and the crowd seemed to think Collins had won the fight. But Kalambay was given the decision, obviously based on scoring for defense, efficiency and economy.
The warrior Collins picked himself up yet again from his third 12-round points defeat against a top-class operator and carried on plugging away in the gym and the road. Another change of camp, to Matchroom in London, who had super-middleweight world champions Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn – both multi-millionaire celebrities in England – under their banner at the time, was inspired by that very reason.
Collins made it clear he wanted Benn and Eubank, but Matchroom made it clear he would have to wait his turn, knowing he was a potential threat to both mens titles and records and subsequently money-generating powers. After spending time training with Floyd Patterson, and then Matchroom’s Freddie King, Collins had added yet another dimension to his fighting – some punching power. He was taught how to punch from the foot rather than the arm or shoulder, and his KO ratio went through the roof because of this.
Now a more complete fighter than ever, and veteran of the game, racking up wins against journeymen on Eubank and Benn undercards, Collins was losing heart and patience until a WBO middleweight title fight against Briton Chris Pyatt was arranged as he shared billing with Naseem Hamed in Sheffield.
Determined not to make it third time lucky, Collins trained like a demon and out-boxed and knocked out the much smaller looking though world-class Pyatt in five rounds to grab the belt, finally realizing his dream.
The best was yet to come.
When fellow Irishman Ray Close failed a brain scan for a third fight with Chris Eubank, Steve Collins, fuming at recently cancelled fights of his own, jumped at the chance to tackle ‘Simply The Best’ Eubank – then undefeated in 43 fights, 19 of which world title fights, and the most flamboyant fighter in the game, as well as boxing’s most proficient earner.
The build-up to Eubank-Collins I would be an article in itself, as Collins famously claimed to be hypnotized and appeared to spook Eubank. But let’s cut to the fight itself and leave all the mind games aside.
Eubank did his usual pausing on the edge of range, with stepping jabs to the head and reaching rights to the body, before pulling out with his high hips. But Collins’ basic tactics worked – for every punch Eubank threw, he was going to find two back in his face.
Collins didn’t attempt to block, catch or evade the single Eubank leads, he knew what was coming, he just set himself to launch that half-a-second sooner than Eubank’s previous opponents would retaliate. Collins took full advantage of Eubank appearing jaded from his murderous schedule, by lunging at him with straight successive punches and getting through with a few.
Collins gained a close decision in a close contest, grabbing the super-middleweight crown, despite Eubank’s elusive defensive work against wider punches and the knockdown he scored in the 10th – incidentally the first head-punch knockdown of Collins’s life. It was seen as a big upset, most Brits not even knowing who Collins was before that fight.
He rematched Eubank six months later, during which time he changed camps again, calling his friend Freddie Roach, then an unknown trainer, to train him, and Frank Warren to promote him. Eubank was confident of winning and regaining his super-middleweight crown at Cork Stadium, but Collins came out for Eubank-Collins II liked a crazed lunatic. They were wild tactics, charging across the ring at Eubank, staying at his chest and clubbing away at his shoulders like an octopus, not allowing Eubank to work – it was a far cry from the cagey, capable pure boxer/counter-puncher of ’93-’94.
Now a total marauding warrior. In a way, he won the first six rounds of the Eubank II fight without throwing a punch. Eubank struggled to get into the fight, and before you knew it was it was the 12th round and Collins was still coming recklessly, blood pouring down his face just as had tears of anger had been pouring down that same face on his way to the ring pre-fight. Pure desire, years of pent-up frustration and knowing he had to win this fight to keep this title to secure his life, financially, after toiling away since the age of eight years old in this brutal sport. He kept his title on a split-decision, though most feel he won dominantly.
The very good, potentially excellent Cornelius Carr, was next up in a risky fight just two months after the Eubank defense. Carr had been the main sparring partner of Roy Jones Jr and Eubank, and looked excellent against world-rated James Cook in taking the British super-middleweight title. But experienced Collins, adopting the reckless style that Roach advocated for him, was far too strong for the sharpshooting young Brit as he marauded his way to a 12-round decision, before marauding British middleweight champion Neville Brown out of there in his next fight.
A dream match was put together with ‘Dark Destroyer’ Nigel Benn in 1996, who had been there, seen it, done it and got the t-shirt. The Collins tactics were perfect, as they had been for both Eubank fights; whenever Benn landed cleanly, Collins would fall back and launch into smashing a right hand off Benn’s head or face. Benn, known for his devastating punching power, landed a perfect left hook on a number of occasions and slow-motion replays showed that Collins didn’t even blink at the point of impact.
The fight ended when Benn fell from a twisted ankle and turned away from Collins’ blows when he got up. It was an unsatisfactory ending, and Benn retired on the ring apron post-fight.
However, Nigel came out of retirement soon after and, with Collins struggling for world-class opponents, a rematch was hastily put together for the same night as Tyson-Holyfield. Tactially, for Benn-Collins II, Collins wouldn’t throw during Benn’s flamboyant bobbing and weaving, only when he was standing upright, and this very simple tactic worked as he got a foothold of the fight after a few wild rounds and Benn was beginning to look like a boy in Collins’s hands. Benn couldn’t do anything with this monster, who was looking physically bigger and stronger with every fight and just as determined as ever, and Benn’s corner pulled him out after six.
Collins began frantically calling out the superb Roy Jones Jr, claiming Jones was scared of him. In his last fight, Steve was floored heavily in 30 seconds by a blown-up journeyman, only to bounce off the canvas, impose his strength and deliver the most perfect of right hands to leave Craig Cummings horizontal in that very same round. It was the best punch he threw in his entire career. Down to defend against an up-and-coming youngster by the name of Joe Calzaghe, Collins pulled out of the fight with 11 days to go and announced his retirement!
One of the toughest men to ever lace the gloves.