BoxRec

FORMER Irish boxing hero Steve Collins, known as the Celtic Warrior in his ring days, has called for England's Manchester sensation Ricky 'Hitman' Hatton to follow his lead and become the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world by defeating American star 'Pretty Boy' Floyd Mayweather in their Las Vegas clash on December 8.

"If Ricky beats Mayweather he has to be considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world like I was when I beat Benn and Eubank twice each," said the man who won world titles at two different weight divisions.

"He's the one fighter in the world who can beat Mayweather. He's not a one-handed fighter like Oscar or a flat-footed fighter like Carlos Baldomir and Miguel Cotto.

"He's not oversized or undersized, knows about angles and has a positive enough mental attitude with great work ethic," he added.

"If Kostya Tszyu's right hand couldn't stop him in his tracks, what's Mayweather's going to do?"

Collins also compares Mayweather to Chris Eubank. "For every punch Eubank threw, he found two back in his face and knew that I wasn't just another challenger.

"When Mayweather feels the power of Ricky's body shots, he'll know Ricky's not just another challenger too."

Collins also feels Hatton would have to be considered the best fighter to come out of Britain if he does pull it off against the 'Pretty Boy', but feels there may be nowhere to go after that.

"He'd be firmly established as the best fighter to ever come out of his country - one in front of the great Nigel Benn.

"You have to give Mayweather credit for taking this fight, and even more if he takes a rematch. If the great Mike McCallum gave me a rematch, I know I'd have won.

"If Roy Jones accepted my challenges, I know I'd have definitely beaten him, too.

"If the great Marvin Hagler fought any half-a-dozen fights with any of the Fab Five - which consisted of me, Benn, Eubank, Roy Jones and Mike McCallum - he'd have lost, at the very least, two or three."

just ignore

agree

"If Ricky beats Mayweather he has to be considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world like I was when I beat Benn and Eubank twice each"

Think Collins has taken too many punches. This is the guy who priced himself out of a match with RJJ.

Fair enough to call Baldomir and Cotto flat footed, but what about himself?

DLH - one handed?

Ex boxers always look a bit silly talking about other boxers because they want to remind everyone else they were good boxers themselves. I remember Marvin Hagler compairing Audley vs Juliouse Long to Hagler Hearns :-S

Sure i heard he got done for shop lifting in B&Q or something somewhere...

i liked watching collins,but would you consider him pound4pound number at his best??Benn would have had him at his peak.....

It's striking the difference between Collins' comments and those of Nigel Benn when referring to Joe Calzaghe.

Collins was tough but you'd think he was Ali, RJJ & SRR rolled into one to listen to him.

Oh, hang on, isn't that Anthony Smalls...

I got given steve collins' boxing hardmen on DVD one christmass... ha ha class

What the fornicate has Collins been smoking? He was top 10 perhaps but nowhere near number 1.

He caught Eubank at the right time and an over the hill Benn. Pre-Watson Eubank would have knocked the stuffing out of him.

Hatton is way way better than Collins ever was.

Collins is hilarious, he was saying before the Eubank fight how it was impossible for him to lose a boxing match whilst in the mental condition he was because he saw the target areas three times as large and couldn't feel punches or some shit..

Eubank beat him clearly in mill street.. CLEARLY..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0EBzBsrstk wanker

The only thing I can agree with is that Hatton has a very good chance against Mayweather - The rest is pure bollocks.

Eubank was a hot and cold fighter but when do we think his prime was and when did he start to slide? How far removed from his prime was he against Collins, or was Collins always all wrong for him?

Autobarn wrote:just ignore

I thought the same thing, especailly when I read the bit about Collins comparing Mayweather to Eubank. WTF is that all about?

Please, can someone enlighten Steve to the fact that he wasn't the best P4P boxer when he beat Benn & Eubank!

Terry D wrote:

"If the great Marvin Hagler fought any half-a-dozen fights with any of the Fab Five - which consisted of me, Benn, Eubank, Roy Jones and Mike McCallum - he'd have lost, at the very least, two or three."

Only if he got bored spanking the pish out of them.

Toney was the most feared fighter, along with Benn, on that list.

and McCallum. Few wanted to fight McCallum - a great fighter - who had Eubank running scared. Chris has admitted he wanted no part of McCallum a # of times.

Deffo. Possibly the most underrated and avoided fighter of his generation. Sadly he was never much of a draw, and so didn't get the chances his talent deserved. I've always admired Michael Watson for taking on a tough nut like McCallum.

The only thing McCallum really struggled against was slickesters, he was a methodical type who could be beaten by a good mover with skills, but other than that, he was solid all around. Absolutely fantastic chin, power in either hand, great body punching of course, technically fantastic too, with every shot in the book, economy, movement, and brilliant timing and placement.

One of my favourite fighters of all time, a real purists dream.

Can we have some evidence that this is a real Steve Collins quote? If one was trying to write a false piece to make the Celtic Warrior look like an arse, that is pretty much verbatim how one would do it.

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Deffo. Possibly the most underrated and avoided fighter of his generation. Sadly he was never much of a draw, and so didn't get the chances his talent deserved. I've always admired Michael Watson for taking on a tough nut like McCallum.

The only thing McCallum really struggled against was slickesters, he was a methodical type who could be beaten by a good mover with skills, but other than that, he was solid all around. Absolutely fantastic chin, power in either hand, great body punching of course, technically fantastic too, with every shot in the book, economy, movement, and brilliant timing and placement.

One of my favourite fighters of all time, a real purists dream.

McCallum was a fighter before my time, I've seen a few of his fights though and am a huge fan, 1 of the greatest ever in my book. If McCallum got his hands on Hearns/Leonard/Hagler/Duran at the right times history may have been very different because a prime McCallum may have been too much for the faded versions.

Whos seen McCallum-Bomber Graham? it was an SD was it a fair result? It would also be interesting to know what happened in the Kalambay fights.

The fact he fought a prime Toney to a draw at the age of 35 and gave RJJ a tough night in his 4th division speaks volumes about him.

His resume is mighty mpressive without the Fab4 - Jackson, Curry, Collins, Graham, Toney (probably won 1 of them), Kalambay

McCallum-Graham was very close. Mike landed probably the heavier blows but Graham's were very snappy. It seemed Graham was a quite emotionally fragile person and personal problems and distractions always seemed to get to him for the biggest bouts. It could have gone either way. I thought McCallum just nicked it. But you should have seen McCallum's face at the end of round one. He looked upset, as if "This shouldn't be happening to me."

I felt that Kalambay thoroughly schooled McCallum in their first fight. Some Americans feel it is close because McCallum pressured and Kalambay wasn't always accurate. The rematch was a purist's dream for skill. Kalambay was a fabulous boxer - wins over Collins, DeWitt, Barkley, Sims as proof - but McCallum did brilliant work over the first seven. Very tense as Kalambay got into the fight in the 2nd half but MM just edged the fast paced technical battle.

MM did struggle with movement but it was great what he picked up between the 2 Kalambay fights. In the rematch he kept feinting Kalambay who fell for a lot of them, setting up clean jabs and a varied attack.

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:Eubank was a hot and cold fighter but when do we think his prime was and when did he start to slide? How far removed from his prime was he against Collins, or was Collins always all wrong for him?

It was always to do with weight. He looked as good as ever in his last two fights (against Thompson), and awesome against Wharton (with his weight monitored).

Autobarn wrote:

Terry D wrote:

"If the great Marvin Hagler fought any half-a-dozen fights with any of the Fab Five - which consisted of me, Benn, Eubank, Roy Jones and Mike McCallum - he'd have lost, at the very least, two or three."

Only if he got bored spanking the pish out of them.

Toney was the most feared fighter, along with Benn, on that list.

and McCallum. Few wanted to fight McCallum - a great fighter - who had Eubank running scared. Chris has admitted he wanted no part of McCallum a # of times.

Actually, Eubank said in Dec '89 that the only two fighters in the world he wouldn't fight were Graham and Nunn. When asked after the first Benn fight about McCallum, he said he'd be gunning for him.

In Boxing World June '91 edition he mentions him as well, saying he wouldn't beat him if he did what Michael Watson did which was stand in front of him, but that McCallum's legs were going and his (Eubank's) strength was 'abnormal' (think that was the word) because of his ancestors or some shit. He said only southpaws worried him at 160.

Mr Gunn wrote:i liked watching collins,but would you consider him pound4pound number at his best??Benn would have had him at his peak.....

Big call that one ,,, maybe, bu only maybe. It's a little like Tyson - Holyfield. Say Tyson had beaten Douglas, I believe Holyfield would have won because he had his number. Perhaps Collins was the same

I think Collins would have always beaten Nigel. He took Benn's best punches in the 30 minutes they scrapped and barely flinched. Collins was so tough and awkward that Mike McCallum said no ammount of money would get him back in the ring with him!

To this day McCallum doesn't know how Collins didn't go down from the body shots he took, and still can't work out how Collins got through with so many shots on him being such a (seemingly) slow, telegraphing lunging fighter. Collins suffered stage fright for five rounds (fifth a 10-8 on all three cards) then went 50/50 with McCallum for the rest of the fight (despite being a 16-fight kid taking the fight on short notice...), McCallum edging most of the rounds with accuracy.

The Kalambay one was a foul-filled fight and Eastwood argued Collins won, personally I thought Kalambay made him look silly. He deserved the decision against slick Reggie Johnson though (and Johnson actually deserved the decision against Toney).

When Nigel wasn't going flat-out trying to blast you out of the ring, he was a ducking-swaying-bobbing-weaving fighter and that's made for Collins to smother.

When they did scrap Collins went long whenever caught cleanly and from his distant position he was able to throw a superb right that connected again and again with Benn's head or face. If Collins missed with the punch it swept across Benn's back and ruled out any type of counter.

I honestly don't see any Benn beating Collins. I know he was never the same after McClellan, but he really was like a boy in Collins's hands. He couldn't do anything with that monster.