Steve Collins

nacho libre

Is it harsh to say that he was lucky to catch Benn and Eubank when they were on the wane? I'd love to have see him against Benn a couple of year earlier than when they fought. Would he have been able for Benn at any stage?

Vintagekits

nacho libre wrote: »

Is it harsh to say that he was lucky to catch Benn and Eubank when they were on the wane? I'd love to have see him against Benn a couple of year earlier than when they fought. Would he have been able for Benn at any stage?

British bullshít propaganda mate!

collins was the same age as Benn and OLDER than Eubank and had been through just as many wars - they just cant accept he beat them BOTH - TWICE!!!

angry_bob

Definitely harsh. I think he would beat Benn everyday of the week, he was a far cleverer fighter than Benn would ever be. Eubanks was never the same fighter after he fought Watson, so maybe it would have been different if Collins had fought him before that. Saying that, you can only beat who is put in front of you, so hats of to Collins.

wobblyknees

angry_bob wrote: »

Definitely harsh. I think he would beat Benn everyday of the week, he was a far cleverer fighter than Benn would ever be. Eubanks was never the same fighter after he fought Watson, so maybe it would have been different if Collins had fought him before that. Saying that, you can only beat who is put in front of you, so hats of to Collins.

I'd agree with this, I think he beat Benn fair and square but Eubank prior to the Watson fight would have beaten him imo.

Vintagekits

angry_bob wrote: »

Definitely harsh. I think he would beat Benn everyday of the week, he was a far cleverer fighter than Benn would ever be. Eubanks was never the same fighter after he fought Watson, so maybe it would have been different if Collins had fought him before that. Saying that, you can only beat who is put in front of you, so hats of to Collins.

I never bought into the "Eubank was never the same after Watson" - it never stopped him going after other fighters or trying to decapitate Collins (but missing) - its a myth in my opinion!

angry_bob

Vintagekits wrote: »

I never bought into the "Eubank was never the same after Watson" - it never stopped him going after other fighters or trying to decapitate Collins (but missing) - its a myth in my opinion!

You're entitled to your opinion Vintage, but after your previous remark of "British bullshít propaganda", I think we can safely ignore it, if you don't mind.

digme

Collins beats them no matter what age they are or who they fought.
He was simply too much of a pressure fighter.

Vintagekits

angry_bob wrote: »

You're entitled to your opinion Vintage, but after your previous remark of "British bullshít propaganda", I think we can safely ignore it, if you don't mind.

Oh that negates my opinion does it?? Fair enough, I dont mind.

digme

Nacho your a bollocks Steve collins was the man,plain and simple.

angry_bob

Vintagekits wrote: »

Oh that negates my opinion does it?? Fair enough, I dont mind.

Yeah, it does, to answer a post with that kind of drivel tends to negate further opinion.

eagle eye

Steve Collins was past his prime when he became WBO Champ. The man fought the great Mike McCallum long, long before then and while there was no doubt he lost the fight, McCallum said he would never fight him again. McCallum spent two weeks in hospital after the fight.

Collins is very unlucky to have 3 losses on his record, I personally believe he beat Reggie Johnson, and everybody knows he was robbed in Italy against Kalambay.

He came back to Ireland/UK after that and it took him 3 years to get a title fight off Eubanks. Neither him nor Benn's camps wanted anything to do with him.

Vintagekits

angry_bob wrote: »

Yeah, makes you sound like an idiot, in my opinion.

yeah I know, shízzle! gotta pull me socks up. Just ignore all the points I made - Collins was in his prime and a spring chicken compared to Benn and Eubank, he lost all 4 fights to them and Eubank was such a thoughtful little lamb! thank you, much love and good bye!

nacho libre

digme wrote: »

Nacho your a bollocks Steve collins was the man,plain and simple.

sure that's old news:D

sorry digme as much as i liked Steve Collins.
the Dark Destroyer at his peak was the man from that era:p

bigeasyeah

Poor Steve.There s always someone at him.

joepenguin

Both Eubank and Benn scored ko's after their watson/mcclellan fans so why all of a sudden when the get by collins are the past their prime. He beats eubank everyday of the week and benn most days!

angry_bob

Vintagekits wrote: »

I never bought into the "Eubank was never the same after Watson" - it never stopped him going after other fighters or trying to decapitate Collins (but missing) - its a myth in my opinion!

Eubanks had 15 stoppages in 27 fights before he fought Watson, and then 6 in the following 23 fights.
Believe it, don't belive it, the stats speak for themselves.

Vintagekits

angry_bob wrote: »

Eubanks had 15 stoppages in 27 fights before he fought Watson, and then 6 in the following 23 fights.
Believe it, don't belive it, the stats speak for themselves.

you mean to tell me that as Eubanks career progressed he fought tougher fighters that werent as easy to knockout - whateva next?? :eek:

ROCKMAN

angry_bob wrote: »

Eubanks had 15 stoppages in 27 fights before he fought Watson, and then 6 in the following 23 fights.
Believe it, don't belive it, the stats speak for themselves.

Could the fact that he was facing better and tougher fighters as he rose through the ranks have anything to do with his KO count slowing down.
Every good fighter Pro record looks good at the start and a puncher will always have a high KO count as he deals with the lower ranks and the journey men as he makes his name/reputation.


EDIT just seen Vintagekits beat me to the point ,sorry

whaaames

Steve was a serious fighter, one of my favourite memories of watching boxing as a kid was the eubank fight in cork, it was amazing watching him win the title...

The common belief seems to be that both benn ad eubank were past their respective bests when collins met them, but lets be honest here, that's just jibberish; the fact is he took the two of them twice each, he never ducked a fight, more to the point he went chasing RJJ; and on another day he mightn't have got te decision from eubank or he might have got caught by benn but he didn't.....on those days he did what he had to do and he won and for that he has to be respected,...

cppromotions

When Steve Collins won the USBA Title and defended it against Tony Thornton who he beat on a land slide decision he was to fight the winner of Nigel Benn and Doug Dewitt ,Benn won the fight but refused to fight Collins that was back in 1989 also the person i just mentioned Tony Thornton fought Eubank for the title and anybody who saw the fight thought Thornton was robbed , Lets not forget Collins got the fight with Mike Mccallum at only 4 weeks notice when Watson pulled out with a broken nose, I saw the fight with Collins and Mccallum it was a very close fight from rds 4-12 althought Mccallum did win he said Collins was his toughest fight ever Collins was only 15 and 0 at that stage, Mccallums first defence was against Michael Watson who he destroyed in 10 rds this is the same Michael watson who kod Benn with a Jab and almost took the Title of Eubank twice So it shows Just how good Steve Collins was
and he actually fought Mccallum with 2 broken Ribs sustained 2 weeks earlier which was revealed after the fight at the Press conference with X-Rays to prove it and Mcallum was the best body puncher in the buisness
known as; The Body Snatcher.

cowzerp

Collins was not a fashionable fighter but was as tough as they came, i actually think he is under rated, The man could box and when needed could slug it out, he tended to slug it with the higher opposition and it worked for him well, he also beat the talented Chris pyatt which was a great win too..

RJJ did not fancy 12 rounds of hell and that was the story of his career until ray close got injured in the build up to the Eubank fight..

Benn on his day was the most dangerous fighter but Collins just did not let him fight, Eubank could also end a fight with 1 punch and Collins beat him with pure heart and determination..

walshb

cowzerp wrote: »

and Collins beat him with pure heart and determination..

And one hell of a chin.

Steve would always pose problems for Eubank and Benn. All about styles.

Collins was only really beaten by Mike McCallum, who was a fanatstic boxer/slugger/puncher. Mike's style was far more versatile than Benn and
Eubank, hence Steve had a lot more to think about.

nacho libre

bigeasyeah wrote: »

Poor Steve.There s always someone at him.

at him? he, along with the likes of Hatton and Benn, is one of the fighters i admire the most because he never ducked anyone and did his best to try and get a fight with the best p4p fighter in the world at the time. It's a fight which he most likely would have lost but he wanted to pit himself against the very best nonetheless.

questioning whether he beat these guys when they might have been past their peak is not getting at him.

Steve Collins was as tough as they come, with a chin that seemingly could withstand belts from a lump hammer, but i think it's fair to say when he faced Benn, Benn was a shadow of himself.

cppromotions

Would love to see Steve back on RTE panel

magma69

Sorry lads, I think Nigel Benn was shot when faced Collins. Not saying Collins would have lost to him if they fought a few years before but he definitely was well declined by the time Collins fought him.

His victories over Eubank were legit. Collins was Eubank's kryptonite, he would always present huge problems for him. Eubank had plenty left in the tank when he faced Collins (especially the first fight)

The whole same age argument doesn't hold up imo. Boxer's age differently, some guys are shot before they are in the their 30's others hit their prime in their 30's. It's different for everyone.

joepenguin

angry_bob wrote: »

Eubanks had 15 stoppages in 27 fights before he fought Watson, and then 6 in the following 23 fights.
Believe it, don't belive it, the stats speak for themselves.

Defo down to the level of opposition. When the bar gets raised fighters will look for any excuse to explain why they didnt look as good as they previously did. Ever wonder what happend to the "Ricky Hatton of old"?
Collins beat benn and eubank twice each and called out rjj, not to mention the pyatt, mccallum, johnson fights etc. On the other hand eubank admits to dodgin roy jones. Doubt that made the pages of the tabloids back in the day

whaaames

magma69 wrote: »

Boxer's age differently, some guys are shot before they are in the their 30's others hit their prime in their 30's. It's different for everyone.

Bernard Hopkins...???

He seemed to only get better with age...i'll lean towards the fact he'd probably only still involved now for a few pay days (even though i'll admit he's winning and he destroyed Pavlik) but even when he was 39/40 he was superb...

Regarding collins, he seemed to be in his absolute prime when he won the title in 95' and he was 30 then, 2 years OLDER than eubank so nothing other than a legit win there will hold any water...Benn was 2 years older than Collins and was probably on the slide a small bit but he was still dangerous and well capable of winning so fair play to Steve, he did what was asked of him...

partyguinness

nacho libre wrote: »

Is it harsh to say that he was lucky to catch Benn and Eubank when they were on the wane? I'd love to have see him against Benn a couple of year earlier than when they fought. Would he have been able for Benn at any stage?

Collins wasnt exactly a spring chicken himself at the time...Eubanks was fighting crap that Sky Sports (10 fight deal if I remember correctly)were lining up for him but at least he showed some balls to come to Ireland and fight Collins. He didnt have to.

I was at the fight in Millstreet in 1995...all time favourite sporting memory.:)

I Drink It Up!

angry_bob wrote: »

Eubanks had 15 stoppages in 27 fights before he fought Watson, and then 6 in the following 23 fights.
Believe it, don't belive it, the stats speak for themselves.

Yeah his competition went up and his win rate, never mind his KO rate, went down.:cool:

cppromotions

Eubank didnt want to come to Ireland to fight Collins it was SKY TV who pushed that fight because there was a bonus for Eubank if he came through his ten fightdeal with SKY but he fought a lot of Stiffs on his way there but when Ray Close had to pull out barry Hearn was told by Sky they wanted Collins and no buts about it if you remember back the night before Eubank threaghtened to pull out

siochain

whaaames wrote: »

Steve was a serious fighter, one of my favourite memories of watching boxing as a kid was the eubank fight in cork, it was amazing watching him win the title...

+1 classic

Poly

cppromotions wrote: »

Would love to see Steve back on RTE panel

Where's he gone? Does he even live in Ireland anymore? Last time I saw him was in the movie "lock, stock...."

cppromotions

Last i heard he married a girl from london and settled down there hasnt been involved much in Boxing up until recently himself and his brother Paschal opened a gym .