BoxRec

His record is pretty impressive. I heard he was a pretty exciting fighter. His final record was 36-3. I see his losses were all somewhat early in his career, against 3 pretty good fighters (McCallum, Kalambay, and Reggie Johnson) who were in their primes and more experienced than him. He also has two wins a piece over Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn.

I was wondering how good a fighter he was, and why he retired when he did. And what's he up to now?

mate

steve collins was an ugly, mauling, ordinary fighter with little class. sorty of like a middleweight john ruiz.

he didnt deserve either decision over chris eubank, who was a little bit past it and even dropped collins in their 1st fight, and nigel benn was completely shot, and had lost to an ageing sugarboy malinga beforehand.

Must say that I think Overhand-rights comments on Steve Collins are a little harsh. He deserved both wins over Eubank because he outworked him and he outgutted Benn twice when Benns heart was nolonger quite there anymore. Granted I was never a great fan of Collins sometimes messy style and both Eubank and Benn were past their best when Steve met them but I always admired Steve for his heart and proffessionalism and he had a great chin. Notice that Roy Jones never wanted to fight Collins, wonder why, it wasnt because he thought he would be too easy thats for sure!....give the man some credit!!!.
By the way, whats all this HARDB******D stuff???.....chill out man!!!.

oh i am chilled my friend, its not inflammatory, but mark wills is a hard man! (mark wills was a HW in the 80s/90s, I AM NOT REFERING TO MYSELF!!!!!

maybe i should change my signature before it leads to further confusion?

Keyser, yeah, I agree with what you say. Benn actually started well in both fights against Collins and was by no means totally shot, he still had his power, but Collins simply out gutted him, he stood toe to toe with Benn and took some terrific shots but came back with more of his own till Benn retired in both fights. As I remember it both fights were still competetive when they were stopped, the first time Benn had injured his ankle and the second time he retired because Jimmy Tibbs in his corner said he was taking too many head shots from Collins. It was a good stoppage second time round as I m sure Collins would have stopped Benn had the second fight been allowed to carry on.
I think Collins would always have given Eubank problems due to his busy non-stop style. Incidentially I think Collins himself was on the wane when he fought Benn, he was a little slower in his reactions and was being hit cleanly much more than I d seen in his past fights. I think he retired just at the right time. At his best I think Collins would have been too busy and tough for Calzaghe, who I think is vastly overrated.

I believe COcllins was a very, very good fighter who benefitted from

fighting Eubank and Benn when the latter was clearly on the slide and the

former was less aggressive following his ill-fated encounter with Watson.

People forget that Eubank dropped Collins and I sat waiting for Chris to

bury a wilting Collins but Eubank by this stage was a posturing parody

of himself and failed to put together a meaningful attack. Collins takes

credit for viable performances against Johnson, Kalumbay (who was

good enough to beat Herol Graham amongst others) and McCallum.

However, to conclude the story, I believe if Collins had been facing the

Eubank or Benn that fought each other he wouldn't have succeeded.

He retired apparentley in frustration at failing to secure a match up with

Jones, I believed it at the time, I'm sceptical now - his next natural fight

was with Joe Calzaghe who looked too quick, too heavy handed and too

determined to Collins. He contemplated a return in 99, collapsed in a non

contact situation in sparring with Howard Eastman and retired. Boxing-Monthly

cover the story in an 99 issue.

He was a very, very good Super-Middleweight and a tough nights work

for anyone......took a shot and punched with intent and quantity.

A little bit like Micky Ward,,,,

guy was a no talent bum.

Hey, Overhand-right, you say that Collins is a no-talent-bum!...but what do you have to back up this statement with eh?. NOT A LOT I THINK!.
For one thing any man who has the guts to climb into a boxing ring is certainly no bum whether he be greatly talented or not. The bums tend to be the people sitting on their arses safely outside the ropes pontificating on the merits of the men in the ring!. Secondly, if you took the trouble to look through Collins record and have an ounce of boxing knowledge I think you will have to agree that Collins was far from untalented.
He started his career in America, and wasnt fed a long line of stiffs like most British boxers are fed today and early in his career he lost close decisions to Sumbo Kalambey and Mike McCallum, both very good Champions, who both beat Herol Graham among others. In his next fight after beating Collins, McCallum koed Micheal Watson... and later went on to hold James Toney to a draw, and later still gave Roy Jones a tough time before losing on points. By this time MCcallum had won world titles at Light-middle, Middleweight and Light-heavyweight.
So theres a bit of background for you OVERHAND, perhaps you think the likes of McCAllum, Toney, Kalambay, Eubank, and Benn were all a bunch of talentless bums too, .....but perhaps not eh!.

OH NO DO WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE ANYONE WHO STEPS IN THE RING ROUTINE AGAIN.

what do i ahve to back up my statement? well hwo does the tapes of collins crude and ugly performances v mccallum, benn and eubank grab ya? and the fact i ahve seen other fights which were equally horrible.

he was a no talent bum.

Was Steve Collins a tall, skinny white guy with blonde hair? I'm not sure if I remember correctly if he's the guy I'm thinking of or not.

OK, Overhand-right perhaps you are fed up with the 'anyone who enters a ring' routine, but I m pretty tired of the ' I DON'T LIKE THIS GUYS STYLE SO HE MUST BE A TALENTLESS BUM!' routine.
You say that you're evidence is the videoes you have of Collins fights against Mccallum, Benn, and Eubank, but you seem forget that out of these five fights Collins only lost one, to Mccallum. After their fight Mccallum said that Steve was one of the toughest fighters he'd ever faced.
I m not saying that you have to be a Steve Collins fan as I know that different people like the styles of different fighters, but I do think that simply dismissing any fighter as a talentless bum is more than a trifle ignorant. Especially when the man in question has fought and beat the men that Steve Collins has. I speak as someone who has seen boxers injured in the ring and who has respect for every fighter as they are pursuing one of the hardest and most unforgiving proffessions on this planet.
Think about it.

he had an ugly poor style, little ability, and beat two bignames who were past their best, and did i mention he didnt deserve the decisions over eubank?

oh yeh benn was a sad shell of the old fighter who would KO collins.

u seem to like the guy a lot, fair enough, but he was a no talent bum.

your only probem with collins is that he is a hard worker....why can't you have respect for a hard worker????????? he fought everybody and beat most of them.....wasnt he the one who nigel been quit once.............oh no twice............another guy your big on overhand who quits on his stool why am i not suprised

After Mike McCallum defeated Steve Collins, Eddie Futch(MCCallum's trainer) said that Collins was a very good fighter who surprised him by fighting as well as he did.

Yeh, Collins was a very good, he was a box-fighter who could adapt to different opponents, he wasnt a great puncher, he wasnt the fastest or most skillfull of the boxers around but he was undoubtedly one of the hardest workers with an exceptional heart, chin and stamina. It was these qualities allied to the fact that he had good skill and good power that made him such a tough opponent. I think that he would always have beaten Benn because he had the stamina and heart to take Benns best and wear him down. Likewise Collins non-stop attacks would always have given Eubank trouble too, as Eubank liked to fight at his own pace in sporadic bursts. At his best I d pick Collins over Calzaghe, he'd have been too persistant and too tough for Joe.
Overhand-Right, for someone " FIGHTING THE WAR AGAINST IGNORANCE" you'd do well to start by looking in the mirror mate!.

Yeh, Collins was a very good, he was a box-fighter who could adapt to different opponents, he wasnt a great puncher, he wasnt the fastest or most skillfull of the boxers around but he was undoubtedly one of the hardest workers with an exceptional heart, chin and stamina. It was these qualities allied to the fact that he had good skill and good power that made him such a tough opponent. I think that he would always have beaten Benn because he had the stamina and heart to take Benns best and wear him down. Likewise Collins non-stop attacks would always have given Eubank trouble too, as Eubank liked to fight at his own pace in sporadic bursts. At his best I d pick Collins over Calzaghe, he'd have been too persistant and too tough for Joe.
Overhand-Right, for someone " FIGHTING THE WAR AGAINST IGNORANCE" you'd do well to start by looking in the mirror mate!.

collins retired rather than get whipped by joe calzaghe. he retired pretemnding he was #1 when infact he was a protected wbo champ who would be annihilated by joines, toney etc. he was little more than a journeyman in terms of ability.

as far as still msokin u really have no knowledge of boxing. calling benn a quitter? and thats why i like him so much? i guess ali is a quitter in your book because of the holmes fight? benn and ali were shot, they would have got killed. was benn a quitter v mcclellen? was ali a quitter v foreman and farzier?

you're a moron. apoligies to you all for not rating steve collins abilities very highly. but you're all lying to yourselves and i can guess why. probably the same reason people rate jerry quarry and marciano so highly.

WOW!!!OVER HAND YOUR NOT TOO BIG ON THE WHITE MAN,I AM NOT SUPRISED THE WAY YOU ALWAYS MAKE EXCUSES,THE WAY YOU CAN'T STAND A HARD WORKING FIGHTER AND YOU LOVE A QUITER OVERHAND YOU ARE A BITTER MAN

not a race thing with me. i like frans botha and andrew golota. botha has entertainment value and golota has skill. collins has neither. but yues, he is a hard worker, my whole point at the start was collins has average talent and beat guys past their best.