Steve Collins facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Steve Collins
Collins in 2010.
Statistics
Real name	Stephen Collins
Nickname(s)	Celtic Warrior
Rated at	Middleweight Super-middleweight
Height	6 ft
Reach	71 in
Born	(1964-07-21) 21 July 1964 (age 60) Cabra, Dublin, Ireland
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	39
Wins	36
Wins by KO	21
Losses	3

Stephen Collins (born 21 July 1964) is an Irish former professional boxer. He competed from 1986 to 1997. People called him the "Celtic Warrior". Collins is known as one of Ireland's most successful male boxers in recent times. He held two major boxing titles at the same time: the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles. He never lost a fight while he was a champion.

Collins's first 19 professional fights took place in the United States. In 1988, he won the Irish middleweight title. The next year, he won the American USBA middleweight title. He defended this title successfully in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

He tried to win a world championship twice for the WBA middleweight title. He lost a close fight to Mike McCallum in 1990. Then, he lost to Reggie Johnson in 1992. He also tried for the European middleweight title in 1992 but lost to Sumbu Kalambay in Italy.

Collins became a world champion when he was in his early 30s. He won the WBO middleweight title in 1994 by beating Chris Pyatt. Then, he moved up to a heavier weight class. In 1995, he defeated the undefeated Chris Eubank to win the WBO super-middleweight title. Collins continued his success by winning a rematch against Eubank later that year. He defended his super-middleweight title six more times. In 1997, he decided to retire. He was hoping to fight Roy Jones Jr., who was considered the best boxer at the time, but that fight never happened.

Collins fought some of the best boxers in the world. He is often remembered for his exciting fights against British boxers Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn. Collins fought and beat both of them twice.

Collins's Boxing Journey

Starting in Boston

Steve Collins won 26 Irish titles as an amateur boxer. He became a professional boxer in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in October 1986. Collins trained with famous boxer Marvin Hagler. In his first fight, he knocked out Julio Mercado in the third round.

In 1988, in Boston, he beat Sam Storey to win the Irish middleweight title. Then, he defeated Kevin Watts to win the USBA middleweight title. After winning 16 fights in a row, Collins got a chance to fight for the WBA middleweight title. He fought Mike McCallum in Boston in 1990. It was a close fight, but McCallum won by a unanimous decision.

In 1992, Collins lost a close fight to Reggie Johnson for the WBA middleweight title. He then lost to Sumbu Kalambay for the European title. After that, he beat Gerhard Botes in 1993 to win the WBA Penta-Continental middleweight title.

Becoming a WBO Champion

Collins then moved to Belfast and later to England. He joined Barry Hearn's Matchroom Boxing team. In May 1994, Collins finally won a world title! He defeated Chris Pyatt in five rounds to become the WBO middleweight champion. In early 1995, Collins gave up this title. It was becoming difficult for him to stay at the middleweight limit.

In March 1995, Chris Eubank was supposed to have a third fight against Ray Close. But Close had to pull out because of a brain scan issue. Collins stepped in to take his place. He moved up to the super-middleweight division to fight Eubank.

Winning the Super-Middleweight Title

Collins defeated the undefeated champion Chris Eubank in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland, in March 1995. Collins won by a unanimous decision. Before the fight, Collins and his helper, Tony Quinn, made people believe Collins would be hypnotized. This seemed to make Eubank nervous. Collins sat still in his corner, listening to headphones, while Eubank entered the ring. Collins knocked Eubank down in the eighth round. Eubank fought back hard and knocked Collins down in the tenth round. But Collins held on to win the fight.

A film called One Night in Millstreet is about this famous fight.

In their second fight in September 1995, Collins changed his style. He fought very aggressively, which Eubank found hard to handle. Collins won this fight by a close decision. Collins successfully defended his WBO super-middleweight title seven times. This included two wins against Nigel Benn in 1996.

In 1997, Collins said he had lost his motivation. He had spent years trying to get a fight with Roy Jones Jr., who was a top boxer. Collins said he would fight Jones "in a phone box in front of two men and a dog," but the fight never happened. A fight against Joe Calzaghe was planned for October 1997. But Collins got injured and then decided to retire. He said fighting Calzaghe wouldn't give him the challenge he wanted from Jones.

Collins retired in 1997 with a record of 36 wins (21 knockouts) and 3 losses from 39 fights.

In 1999, Collins announced he would come out of retirement to fight Roy Jones Jr. However, during training, Collins collapsed. Even though tests found no problems, Collins felt it was a warning. He decided to retire for a second time.

Life After Boxing

Steve Collins has stayed in the public eye since he retired. In 1998, he appeared in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He also made a small appearance in a U2 music video in 1999. In 2013, at age 48, Collins announced plans to fight Roy Jones Jr. again. He even had some practice fights, but the main fight never happened.

In 2014, Collins joined the Army Reserves. He later joined the Royal Military Police in London. He became a Lance Corporal and an army boxing coach.

Collins also appears in the film One Night in Millstreet.

Steve Collins's Boxing Record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
39	Win	36–3	Craig Cummings	TKO	3 (12), 1:17	5 Jul 1997	Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, Scotland	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
38	Win	35–3	Frederic Seillier	TKO	5 (12), 2:20	8 Feb 1997	London Arena, London, England	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
37	Win	34–3	Nigel Benn	RTD	6 (12), 3:00	9 Nov 1996	NYNEX Arena, Manchester, England	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
36	Win	33–3	Nigel Benn	TKO	4 (12), 2:44	6 Jul 1996	NYNEX Arena, Manchester, England	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
35	Win	32–3	Neville Brown	TKO	11 (12), 0:54	9 Mar 1996	Green Glens Arena, Millstreet, Ireland	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
34	Win	31–3	Cornelius Carr	UD	12	25 Nov 1995	Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
33	Win	30–3	Chris Eubank	SD	12	9 Sep 1995	Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork, Ireland	Retained WBO super-middleweight title
32	Win	29–3	Chris Eubank	UD	12	18 Mar 1995	Green Glens Arena, Millstreet, Ireland	Won WBO super-middleweight title
31	Win	28–3	Chris Pyatt	TKO	5 (12), 2:27	11 May 1994	Ponds Forge, Sheffield, England	Won WBO middleweight title
30	Win	27–3	Paul Wesley	PTS	8	9 Feb 1994	Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, England
29	Win	26–3	Johnny Melfah	TKO	4 (8)	22 Jan 1994	King's Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland
28	Win	25–3	Wayne Ellis	KO	9 (10)	30 Nov 1993	Cardiff, Wales
27	Win	24–3	Gerhard Botes	TKO	7 (12)	26 Jun 1993	Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England	Won vacant WBA Penta-Continental middleweight title
26	Win	23–3	Ian Strudwick	TKO	7 (10)	20 Feb 1993	Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England
25	Win	22–3	Johnny Melfah	TKO	3 (8), 2:48	6 Feb 1993	Cardiff, Wales
24	Loss	21–3	Sumbu Kalambay	SD	12	22 Oct 1992	Verbania, Italy	For European middleweight title
23	Loss	21–2	Reggie Johnson	MD	12	22 Apr 1992	Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, New Jersey, US	For vacant WBA middleweight title
22	Win	21–1	Danny Morgan	KO	3	11 Dec 1991	National Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
21	Win	20–1	Jean-Noel Camara	KO	3	25 May 1991	Salle Marcel Cerdan, Brest, France
20	Win	19–1	Kenny Snow	TKO	3 (10), 3:00	11 May 1991	Maysfield Leisure Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
19	Win	18–1	Eddie Hall	UD	10	24 Nov 1990	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US
18	Win	17–1	Fermin Chirino	TKO	6 (10)	16 Aug 1990	Sheraton Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts, US
17	Loss	16–1	Mike McCallum	UD	12	3 Feb 1990	Hynes Convention Center, Boston, Massachusetts, US	For WBA middleweight title
16	Win	16–0	Roberto Rosiles	TKO	9 (10), 0:52	21 Nov 1989	Showboat Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, US
15	Win	15–0	Tony Thornton	MD	12	16 Jul 1989	Broadway by the Bay Theater, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US	Retained USBA middleweight title
14	Win	14–0	Kevin Watts	UD	12	9 May 1989	Resorts International Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US	Won USBA middleweight title
13	Win	13–0	Paul McPeek	TKO	9 (10)	7 Feb 1989	Trump's Castle, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US
12	Win	12–0	Jesse Lanton	UD	8	10 Dec 1988	Boys Club, Salem, New Hampshire, US
11	Win	11–0	Muhammad Shabazz	TKO	4 (10)	22 Oct 1988	Boys Club, Salem, New Hampshire, US
10	Win	10–0	Michael Dale	UD	8	30 Jul 1988	Romuva Park, Brockton, Massachusetts, US
9	Win	9–0	Lester Yarbrough	UD	10	26 May 1988	Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, Boston, Massachusetts, US
8	Win	8–0	Sam Storey	UD	10	18 Mar 1988	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US	Won Irish middleweight title
7	Win	7–0	Bennie Sims	UD	8	9 Dec 1987	Broadway by the Bay Theater, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US
6	Win	6–0	Mike Williams	UD	6	20 Nov 1987	Resorts International Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, US
5	Win	5–0	Harold Souther	UD	8	29 Oct 1987	Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, Massachusetts, US
4	Win	4–0	Richard Holmes	KO	1	10 Oct 1987	Attleboro, Massachusetts, US
3	Win	3–0	Richard Holloway	KO	2 (4)	20 Dec 1986	Strand Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, US
2	Win	2–0	Mike Bonislawski	UD	4	27 Nov 1986	Strand Theatre, Boston, Massachusetts, US
1	Win	1–0	Julio Mercado	KO	3 (4), 1:55	24 Oct 1986	Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, Massachusetts, US