BoxRec

Any thoughts on this one as it nearly happened back in 1997 when Calzaghe was looking to make his way onto the world stage. So who would have won it?

Calzaghe was more solid from the technical side, he would have outboxed Collins.

Well I think Steve Collins knew who would win, because he retired rather than going through with it! Collins was already past his prime and had been floored against part-time fireman, Craig Cummings in his last fight. A pre-hand trouble Calzaghe was a hitter, and probably the must slower Collins would have taken a 8 or 9 round pasting before being pulled out.

Calzaghe was better in pretty much every area, I’m certain he would have beaten Collins, whether in 1997 or peak for peak.

Could have been interesting at the point it was supposed to happen, after all Calzaghe said a late-notice, boiled down Eubank gave him his hardest fight.

Wasn't Collins supposed to have collapsed in sparring/training a number of times?

orbtastic wrote: ↑08 Aug 2018, 04:11 Could have been interesting at the point it was supposed to happen, after all Calzaghe said a late-notice, boiled down Eubank gave him his hardest fight.

Wasn't Collins supposed to have collapsed in sparring/training a number of times?

He did, but that was after when he attempted a comeback

It’s a tough one to call. I say Collins but I’m not mega-confident about it. Collins was actually an excellent and seasoned fighter and I think he had too much for Joe at that stage of his career. A peak Calzaghe beats him.

Any thoughts on this one as it nearly happened back in 1997 when Calzaghe was looking to make his way onto the world stage. So who would have won it?

I am fairly sure Collins has been refreshingly frank about Joe C in the past.........wrong kind of fighter, wrong kind of money and at the back-end of a very hard career for the Dubliner; so it was always thanks but no thanks mate.

Maybe Collins - if he'd accepted the challenge - would've delivered a similar fight to Eubank. He's not getting stopped, he can deal with the hotshot and gives Joe the sternest test he's faced to date; but drops the decision.

Calzaghe at this juncture was a very handy fighter indeed.......super-fast, busy and his hands were not busted-up so he was throwing power shots rather the 'slappy' stuff his critics have always flagged-up.

A fully motivated Collins, hell-bent on defending his title would have made Joe work like hell.