In over 40 years watching british boxing I've never seen a fighter that brought the kind of electricity and drama to a ring like Nigel Benn. I was truly blessed growing up as a kid watching his rise. What a fighter Steve Collins was too. So tough and strong.
You could see Steve Collins was the naturally bigger man. Nigel Benn and Mike Tyson were my favourite boxers in the 80 just because of their knockout styles Benn also had a vulnerability about him where he would wobble if caught.
@@mrbillhicks But to think: Just one of Nigel's glancing blows would leave you screeching, begging and crying for mercy: fact. Relativity is a hell of a drug.
@@steveharris7938 yeah I loved watching boxing when it was free Benn v Eubank. Mcguigan when he beat pedrosa. Honeygan when he beat don curry. Also heavyweights fight. Frank Bruno, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, buster douglas
@@bennym5244 Hi you Benny , that first tune he entered the Ring to is entitled ' Òrò sè de Bheatha Abhaile ' or ' Ro oh Your welcome home , it's classed as a soft Irish Rebel Ballad and he also used to use on an odd occasion, ' Jump Around ' by the House of Pain , an Irish American Hip Hop Band of the 90s , from Boston , where Collins began his Career with the Petronellis, Pat and Goody . 🥊🥊
collins is a legend?? you must be smoking something. he beat 2 finished great fighters in benn and eubank and has been dining out on them wins ever since. a nothing boxer if there ever was one who like mcguigan got the perks of a boxing win through nothing but the colour of their skin.
I was at this fight. 25 years ago today. It was my first boxing match and what a start. I was so excited about seeing real boxing I made my Dad and I get there as soon as the doors opened so we could watch the entire supporting bill. It was a long but brilliant night.
Hi RapidDaniel , it's great to read comments like this , for me anyway , it's great to say you were there , and saw all the fights on the card , fair play , it definitely adds to the experience . I've been to many Professional and Amateur shows and we always got there at gates opening and got to see Mike Tyson fight Julius Francis in this Arena , it had changed name to the MEN Arena by then , January 2000 . There was a cracking undercard with exciting young rising Stars like Takaloo, , Gomez and Hatton and the Main Undercard was Calzaghe v Starie , which was awful in all honesty but I'm privileged to have been there . My main points are , if we just decided to turn up for the Co Main and Main Events , we wouldn't have got to see such great lads like Takaloo , Gomez and Hatton , who were all brilliant on the night , great to watch . All the best 🥊🥊
Glad you enjoyed, but I can't help feel that you were cheated out of what could have been a great fight because an unfortunate injury. I'd have been gutted if that was my main event.
I was there that night too. I remember the tension because of what happened In Manchester in the month leading up to the fight. On my way back to the hotel afterwards, I found a discarded voucher with “Nigel’s after fight party “ written on it. I took it back to Ireland & kept it as a souvenir.
Steve collins is often overlooked in this era by brits because Eubank and Benn had such a well publicised and fierce rivalry. make no mistake Collins was a truly exceptional fighter, he was smart he was as tough as they come, had heart and his ring IQ was incredible. he planned meticulously and figured out ways of winning when he was up against it. his shot selection was fantastic and he carried good power up from middleweight to super middleweight, although not concussive knockout power but still solid hurtful power. His legacy suffered because he never fought RJJ which would have been a great matchup. Pre montell griffin DQ RJJ was the best p4p fighter in the world maybe ever in my opinion. but collins would have created all kinds of problems for him. would have been a great fight! as for this fight, and this era. collins' 2 wins over Eubank do not get anywhere near enough credit.he schooled him the first fight and mauled him the second. Benn was not the same fighter who fought mclellan a year prior to this but he was still the most ferocious puncher at this weight at this time (maybe except rjj), and some of the left hooks he lands here had flattened Many other fighters. Benn was still dangerous and still an absolute nightmare to fight if you couldnt either trade/counter or keep him off you. Benn struggled so badly vs the elites of the Era because they could devise gameplans to neutralise him. Eubank's granite chin allowed him to trade and use his punch variety to rack up points for instancemaking Benn's only real tactic of pressure and mauling inneffective. Collins figured him out and neutralised him to great effect both fights. Dominating the action from distance and trading counters when benn got inside before moving Benn and re-establishing range. it was beautiful to watch. As for the silly comments about him ducking Calzaghe. if you want to apply that argument then you would have to agree that Calzaghe ducked Froch in exactly the same way. Collins was at the end of a glittering career and wanted to only fight the big superfights. was on record saying he wanted RJJ or he was retiring. Calzaghe was his mandatory and instead of fighting a 21-0 kid who was fast, dangerous, knocking everyone out and offered him no upside in either legacy or money he chose to retire. Joe chose the same road when a young Froch with nothing but a mouth was calling him out after he unified the division, he had 2-3 fights left in him and chose to take big money fights at light heavy instead of fighting a then nobody in froch. before i get hate Joe is my favourite british fighter of all time but at that stage of his career i think it goes 12 rounds and Collins ringcraft and IQ win him the fight. Make no mistake Collins was a terrific fighter.
@@topbanana4013 Hi top banana , Steve Collins fought as a Professional Boxer out of Marvin Haglers Gym in Brockton Massachusetts with the Petronellis , Pat and Goody , from 86 to 92 , he'd established himself as a Top MW before Benn and Eubank in the US and had beat 3 Top 10s MWs , on his way to becoming USBA MW Champion , late 80s , this Title was classed as a better Title than say a British , European or Commonwealth Title . Michael Watson stopped Benn in 6 rds in an eliminator in Finsbury park London in 89 for the WBAs MW Title which was held by the then , by a mile , MW King , Mike Mc Callum and was due to fight him late 89 , early 90 but got injured , broke his nose in training so in stepped Collins who'd had just 16 fights then , he had just 3 weeks to prepare for the Bodysnatcher when they fought in Boston , February 90 and lost on pts after a tough battle , Mike deserved the win but had to battle real hard . Just 2 months later , April 90 , Mike brutally beat Watson by stopping him in 11 rds in London , he was an exceptional talent then . Eubank took Benn's World MW Title from him later this year , after he'd beat DeWitt and Barkley in the US and was challenged by Mike to Unify both their Titles and Eubank refused then 2 years later , just after Benn had captured the WBC SMW Title , he too was challenged by Mike , and he too declined , and I don't blame them , for me he beats them easily . The truth is , Collins wanted these 2 , Eubank and Benn , years earlier and they just didn't want to know , he was actually forced on them and proved just how dangerous and good , an opponent he actually was having been in with better quality from his early days and another thing to remember , he gave them both , immediate returns as a Champion , which is something they never wanted to do . All the best 🥊🥊
Well said NellyMatty , brilliant comments about Stevo and very well written . I agree with your assessment of Benn's flaws , he was brilliant , very exciting and a great watch with ferocious power but he struggled really badly with Guys who were stronger than him and could deal with his power like Watson , Eubank and Collins , he seemed to put so much energy into seeking an early KO then just didn't have a plan B but I still think he beat Eubank in their return which was declared a Draw . All the best 🥊🥊
@@francishegarty8087 may i remind you Collins was not about 90 91 92 93 94 95 when Eubanks and ben was in there prime. Collins also bottles it against Calzaghe. ben and Eubanks never bottles it against anyone. when ben was in usa fighting the best where was Collins ??? not good enough. he come late on the scene there was not many good fighters about.
Yes itv boxing special we had many years of saturday night fights with these guys ben collins and many more watson eubank we ruled the world was also great we had english mcs.
I remember watching Barry mcguigan winning the pedrosa fight in one of the first televised bars in our town, the women in there were well pissed off they could have been naked no one give them a second look all the lads were glued to the screen.
Matt Etheridge I'm a Brightonian & had to root for our boy Eubank. Plus I have friends who knew them really well & I worked with one of his nephews. Went to the Eubank v Dan Sherry fight in brighton, one of CE's early bouts, when he nutted Sherry with the back of his head as he kept holding him. We really did rule the boxing times.
Steve Collins one of the most underrated fighters about not many top men would fight him through fear of his toughness durability a top fighter in a great era
They are very good friends even today and have the highest respect for each other but none of them like or respect Eubank at all. I've no idea about Benn but Collins has said he was very disrespectful after their first fight and even more after the 2nd, according to Collins ," Eubank tried to hurt me outside the ring in ways he couldn't inside it" Its 25 years since Collins put him in his place and he is still bitter , can't accept he lost to the better man and judging by a lot of the comments from the majority of his fans, neither have they.
@@francishegarty8087 Really? Man that's surprising to me- I've always heard Eubank was a hell of a nice guy. But if both guys have a dislike for him there's probably something to it... Was there something in particular he did to those two?
@@jacobhartmann1050 Hi you Jacob , I've no ideas what happened between Eubank and Benn but they genuinely disliked each other from the start , Eubank wouldn't even face Benn , sat with his back to him when they were being interviewed in the build up to their first fight in 1990 , that's childish and very disrespectful . He then accused Collins of cheating in their first fight because of the whole ' Hypnotism ' stunt he pulled , and that's exactly what it was , mind games and he fell , hook line and sinker for it and then had 5 months to prepare for the return and got beat fair and square , more easily but never gave up on his excuses . In fairness to him , he has finally accepted being beaten by Collins in the last few years and he was a brilliant fighter too . All the best , take care 🥊 🥊
@@francishegarty8087 I think Eubank eventually came to terms with it. In a pretty recent interview he commented on how resilient the Irish dna is and how it thrives on being the underdog. He was clearly referencing Collins and described the Irish as extraordinary. That made him permanently sound in my book!
Unfortunately an ankle injury cut short the fight to be stopped . But loved the class n respect from both Nigel n Steve at the end towards each other the whole of Manchester that night it seemed was against Steve but the way he embraced Nigel n his father was class n respect . They are both warriors
These guys were rock solid fighters who didn’t need to swear or degrade each other. Just look & listen to the respect given by each man after the fight.
Collins smashed our supermiddleweights twice each. I remember thinking when I watched him beat Chris Pyatt, "who's this chancer coming over here thinking he can beat our elite middleweights and super middleweights". I quickly realised and woke up to realise I didn't know much about boxing as I thought.
@@ptb2008 That's your opinion. But google Mike MacCallum. A young Collins challenged him for the world title and lost on points. MacCallum beat Herol Graham, who would have beaten Benn and Eubank, they both ducked him. While Benn was fighting Mexican road sweepers (his words) Collins was trained by the Petronelli brothers and sparring.... Marvin Hagler. Do you know that name? Fights are won in the gym.
Collins came at the end of an era, but at least they were all willing to fight each other unlike today's heavyweights, Joshua , fury even wilder need to re watch these videos and realise it's the fights not the fighters who make a classic era. It's no good bein great if u only fight bums, Ben would fight anyone anywhere and give the crowd there moneys worth, hagler, Ali, Leonard, Frazier, foreman,Duran, eubank, Watson, Benn, Collins all had worthy rivals and classic fights, calzaghe doesn't get the credit cos he didnt fight anyone not in there prime anyway.
Nigel Benn was always value for money, fans favorite, just a good old fighter. Loved watching him fight. That was his problem others knew at some point he would run out of steam. But to me, he was still one of the UK's best ever fighters, just an animal
Nigel for my money was my fav middleweight just his style and his❤ benn should of retired long b4 alot of fighters carry on 2 long its hardworking all these fights but respect collins but most of all big respect 2 nige
Benn goes to show what can happen in life if you have heart and determination, technically not the best, not the worst either, but that guy had no quit In him
Exactly, he's my favourite fighter of all time but I know I could comfortably name at least 10 better technical boxers than him in his weight class (Even Eubank in fairness) but he had that ferocious power and heart, bit like Carl Froch in that sense
He quit in this very fight, watching it live at the time everybody knew he quit no matter what the hell Barry McGuigan said. And he quit in the rematch too. Listen to his prematch interviews, all that stuff about the well won't be dry! He already knew before the fight he didn't have it in him anymore for the War. And then there is his history of refusing drug tests. He was good, had a great career but the myth about him being a warrior is bull. He was never born a winner -Collins was - that's the difference here before we even get into into talent and skill. Mentality was his weak point
My first ever sporting hero Steve Collins 🍀 It's amazing to hear many boo's when he entered the ring. The IRA was still at war with England so you can imagine the stereotypes hating him and it must of killed them to see him beat both of their top boys not once but twice!!!!
@@grayeves3309 Eubank, unbeaten World Champion aged 28, loses to Collins, 30 year old challenger then loses again much more emphatically 5 months later? Your past his best comments are way off, Eubank got what was coming, Michael Watson clobbered him in their 1st fight only to be ripped off, Benn the same in their 2nd fight, Northern Ireland man Ray Close, boxed his fkn ears off, in Belfast, and guess what, a draw, and he was lucky against Malinga and a few others, look at the facts man, stop making excuses for him, he was good yes but not as good as you think and Michael Watson was a far better boxer, fighter than him or Benn.
17:58-18:11 Collins Doesn't Go Head On He Goes On The Side Ducking Punches And Moving To The Side,Same Way Lomachenko Does Today BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL To Do This Jab The Rest Of The Round Even Go Inside On Benn Is An Accomplishment,The Counter Punching By Collins Is Crazy,I Think Benn Broke Down After Realizing Collins Is What They Said He Was
I never really gave Collins any credit, but he beat something pretty special in Benn and Eubank - so I'm afraid I may have succumbed to crowd mentality when judging his abilities. Results, plain and smple👏💪👍
Nigel Benn was my favourite fighter growing up watching him on itv fight night those were the good old days. He gave us some great fights and in my opinion Britain's best ever boxing performance against mclenan
If it was so great you should know the guys name was McClellan...pos dog fighter doesn't really need remembered. Anyone else id feel terrible for. Not if you take a golden retrievers mouth shut, though. I also suspect something was wrong with him before the fight. A sparring partner of his said he got him with a stiff jab and he started blinking like he did during the fight but claimed he got a thumb in the eye or something
@@llamov For a guy with problems like you suggest, he very nearly annihilated Nigel within seconds of the fight starting and, if it wasn't for Benn's truly amazing resilience and utter determination to hold on till the end of the first round, McClellan would have had yet another very early night...
@@llamov exactly right. mclellan was an horrible twat who deserved a fuckin good hiding and let’s be honest he would’ve done the same to Benn given the chance
He certainly wasn't a fantastic fighter..he just had heart and a strong fighting spirit! His balance and skill level was appalling in the his fight!......he reminds me of wilder...hard hitter but no actual boxing technical skills,
@@TheReesi73you know nothing about boxing if you think this. Absolute casual talk. He had insane Handspeed and picked his shots very well in the pocket, unorthodox but still effective head movement, closed distance extremely well and had an iron guard. Deontay on the other hand didn’t even know how to throw a 1-2 until like 40 fights into his career despite his insane proportions and reach
@@jackgough7640 he didn’t swerve Calzaghe he had a foot injury. And he preferred to fight Roy Jones who ducked him. Collins even turned up at his front door
Even today, Benn never uses the trip and ankle twist injury as an excuse. Yes, Collins was slightly winning, but Benn was far from finished. An unsatisfactory end to the fight. Benn had conditioning, heart and hunger.... Collins had overall class
@Neil Benjamin Speaking of Mc Callum, the Guys you mentioned , Leonard, Duran and Hearns , avoided him like the Plague , at least Watson and Collins fought him in 90, Collins lost on pts, February 90, in Boston, and gave him a rough time, then Watson who was brave but was beaten badly and stopped late on in April 90, in London. This fight was just 10 months after he stopped Benn, June 89, in a tent in finsbury pk, London .
He was more than slightly winning the physical fight .. and it was always going to come down to that. It's a shame that the injury called it before we got to see it develop though. I only saw one winner coming from this though, which is why I';d have to question anyone saying that it was close. Benn did get a few lovely shots in now, in fairness to him but he was being dominated, regardless.
What a fight! For most of it was like two shadow souls had finally found their final opponent. Neither could hit the other! Like mirror images spinning across the glass. I don't even want to see the second fight. Fantastic modern manhood.
Excuses. Hasbeen my arse. He beat Gerald McClellan literally the year before this fight. He was only 32 years old. He lost because his typical pressure style didn't work against Collins.
Amazing isn’t it that there is respect between them all...from Eubanks to Collins and calzaghe to ward...the only outsider is Froch. He put himself there with his comments.
Loved Benn back in the day, but he was all over the place in this one. He just swung wildly, and the ankle wasn't the first time he'd swung and fallen over. He never looked to be in control, and he lost the fight because of it.
Collins was top class went to America then came back and beat the best of the British fighters. Pity him and Jones never faught. But Nigel Benn is my all-time favorite fighter most entertaining boxer of all time.
Brits will never give Steve Collins his due. They make all types of excuses for their fighters. They said Eubank and Benn were past their prime. Collins was 2 years older than Eubank. He made his debut before Nigel Benn. Collins won because he was a better fighter. That's it. There's no mystery. He was more crafty, more durable, put on more pressure. Collins beats either of them at any point in their careers.
Mate brits don't give Joe Calzaghe his due and he's the best british boxer ever, how the fuck do you expect anyone to give an irish fighter their due. Tbh with you, no-one in boxing gets their full respect. Never.
@Bengt Handlebars - We all loved McGuigan. He was an artist with the heart of a lion. Even during the height of Bruno-mania, respect for McGuigan shone through.
@@davidscott2771 benn he was spent at that time. But a magnificent fighter. But collins was the wrong man to run into. Benn Lurching for big shots with flat feet and no jab easy work. 👊
The atmosphere on these fights with Ben Collins Eubanks was second to none, pubs clubs stopped while everyone watched sat night big fight night these guys gave us years of electric fights.
Nigel was never the same after the McClellan fight same with eubank and mason. Fair do’s to Nigel he landed some good shots and fair play to stevie for taking them.
Benn the most exciting Brit ever. Collins was good but got Benn and Eubanks at the very end of their careers. Still don’t understand why Collins never fought Calzaghe. Nearly as bad as when Riddick Bowe threw the belt away rather than fight Lennox. To be honest lots of the Brits avoided the fighters from over the pond ... Roy Jones and James Toney to name but a few. A peak Roy Jones toys with all the brits..... so I don’t blame them.
To be fair Collins chased a fight with Jones for years and couldn't get him in the ring. If you look at one of Jones fights in Florida Collins gets in the ring after and Jones doesn't even engage him. Now dont go off on one but I do think Collins would have given him a tough fight, he had a granite chin, and Jones fought alot of nobody's around that time too, he was class I know that, but for a long time with Jones there was a bum of the month club going on
They don’t put on fights like this or make boxers like this anymore....tough, tough men and a great division at a great time. Collins is very underrated!!!!
I really like Collins and I thought he was a very underrated boxer, that being said timing is everything in boxing, Benn lucked very sluggish in this fight and was way past his best! Two great warriors though and the fans booing Collins were arseholes!!!!
One of Collin's greatest assets was a natural iron chin. That alone saved his behind many times in many of his fights. In the same way that natural speed, or knockout power benefits other fighters. It seems fair to say that if anyone had a chance to knock out Collins it would have been Benn with his lighting speed bombs and counter punches. Benn couldn't do it and had two fights to try.
Almost all of your All-time greats had at least B+ in the Chin dept. Some exceptions like Tommy Hearns (I would give him a B-) existed but the need to take one to land one has to be in your repertoire.
I think Benn knew the score from early in round one to be fair from the early exchanges Collins is such a tough bloke and a better boxer I wanted Nigel to win as well I didn’t think Steve needed to take the last two shots when Benn turned away
Does anyone know the name of the song with the bell sound in the beginning of Nigel Benns entrance? Is it even a song? lol or was it just added in their? Because it's bad ass and chill inducing either way.
Steve Collins called out Roy Jones to fight him on several occasions. Roy never fought him. Collins had that frenetic style but was highly skilled at the same time. Roy did not want to deal with that. Both became champions at a similar time and owned the super middleweight title together for 2 years.
@Bengt Handlebars Eubank, unbeaten 28 years Champion, Collins the challenger, 30, wins well and 5 months later, wins again comprehensively, and you say Eubank wasn't at his peak?
@@johnwedgbury6817 no really!!!!!! I was making the point that back in the 90's for big fights you didn't have pay they were on ITV and regularly got 8 million views, I've no problems with super fights being pay per view but pay per view for fighter's like Dave Allen and none title fights are a joke
One brawl too many. No disrespect to Collins he was one of the best, but our Nigel already had one foot out of the ring by this point.... mentally at least!
Collins had a chin from Mt Rushmore, even Benns bombs blew out like wet matches on his chin. Amir Khan should beg Collins to donate some of his chin to him, might help him to wake up tomorrow instead of middle of next-week after getting KOd 😂
I think the Benn that fought Mcclellan would have seen this fella off.After all these wars that he's been in makes it harder to go back to the well as we seen in the rematch also,but hats off to Steve and a golden era for middle super middleweights on these shores
@Gruagach. Iron Shoes his chin is granite but i reckon benn could have beat collins on points as around 1995 due to the fact he was in his prime after having several trainers and making 9 successful defences but i respect your opinion ,yes collins chin is up there with Haglers,pardon my ignorance but what does ''noob'' mean
@Gruagach. Iron Shoes So because i dont have the same opinion of you im new to boxing,im 50 years old and have been watching boxing since the days of marvin hagler so you my friend are the noob
anybody who says collins caught benn past it or benn had too many wars are obviously only casual boxing fans and have no idea of collins or his career before this and the fights he was in against fighters like mccallum, johnson all while learning his trade alongside hagler in boston.Im not predicting how the fight would have went in earlier years just saying that collins belonged here at any time.his career was just as difficult on the other side of the pond
The fight would of went the same, benn was a bully who threw dirty punches to the back of the head. Collins could take anything benn threw at him and benn looked for a way out with the ankle injury.
