Steve Collins vs Nigel Benn II & Naseem Hamed vs Remigio Molina official on-site programme billed "The Eyes Of The Tigers," 9th November 1996, Nynex Arena, Manchester.

Collins W RTD 6
Hamed W TKO 2

Also featuring:-
Ronald Winky Wright vs Ensley Bingham - Wright W UD 12
Herbie Hide vs Frankie Swindell - Hide W KO 1
Michael Brodie vs Miguel Matthews - Brodie W Pts 6
Terry Dunstan vs Sergio Merani - Dunstan W KO 3
Danny Williams vs Michael Murray - Williams W TKO 1
Carl Thompson vs Jason Nicholson - Thompson W PTS 8
Mark Haslam vs Brian Coleman - Haslam W PTS 6
Michael Gomez vs David Morris - Gomez W PTS 4

Condition excellent

Price: £45

Steve Collins, nicknamed The Celtic Warrior, was born Stephen Collins on 21 July 1964, in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland.

He is considered to be one of the toughest boxers of the past century, widely considered to be the hardest pound for pound fighter of the late 90s, having never been stopped in a high profile career. The Irishman was part of a golden age of European Super Middleweight boxing, along with Chris Eubank, Joe Calzaghe and Nigel Benn.

He was trained by Freddie Roach throughout his career. Collins started boxing professionally in 1986. However he was long considered the nearly man of boxing, after losing three World Title fights on points. It was not until Collins reached his 30s that he fulfilled his potential, becoming the WBO Middleweight champion and later the WBO Supermiddleweight champion.

He won 26 Irish titles at junior heavyweight, light-heavyweight and middleweight as an amateur before turning professional in Massachusetts, U.S. in 1986.
In Boston, Massachusetts in 1988, he defeated Sam Storey to win the Irish middleweight title, then defeated world #5, Kevin Watts, and won 16 successive fights before Mike McCallum outpointed him over 12 rounds in the WBA World middleweight title fight in Boston in 1990.

In 1992, he lost at the same weight to Reggie Johnson and to Sumbu Kalumbay in the EBU decider, before beating Gerhard Botes of South Africa to win the WBC Penta Continental title in 1993. Collins then based himself in Boston where he set up training camp. Alongside him was Paul "Silky" Jones, his sparring partner and good friend who later went on to become WBO champion but in the light middle weight division. Steve was trained by Freddie Roach in the Boston training camp and throughout his career.
In 1994 he defeated Chris Pyatt to secure the WBO middleweight belt. The following year he relinquished this title without a defence, moving up to super-middleweight and defeating the previously unbeaten Chris Eubank in Millstreet, Cork, Ireland to win the WBO title.

He defended this title successfully seven times (including a second meeting with Eubank and two fights against Nigel Benn).

Always one for a bit of a laugh, Collins said to The Sun newspaper in the buildup to the first Benn fight that he had been approached by ReadyMix concrete as they were interested in sponsoring his chin.

In the Craig Cummings fight in 1997, at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall, Collins was knocked down in the first 15 seconds of the fight (the third knock down in his professional career). Collins climbed off the floor to insist it was a slip but with a cheeky grin at Cummings took the standing eight count. A total demolition of Cummings ensued and in the third round the referee stopped the fight with a very relieved Cummings leaning back on the ropes looking towards the sky. This turned out to be Collins' last professional appearance as he announced his retirement shortly after the fight.

Collins had said some years before that before retirement he would like to fight at Celtic's home ground. However, Collins was billed to fight Calzaghe and then at a late stage withdrew because of injury, had his title stripped, and then retired. Chris Eubank stepped in to take Steve's place in fighting Calzaghe, but for the then vacant WBO title.
Collins reportedly stated in the press that he had no motivation left as he had spent the best part of his career chasing Roy Jones Jr. for a unification fight that had been promised to him many times. A fight with Calzaghe would do nothing to satisfy the desire he had for fighting Jones. He then added he wanted to retire on a high note with a good pay day, "Joe is a good up-and-coming kid, but he wouldn't fill a parish church".

In 1999, he announced his decision to come out of retirement in order to fight Roy Jones Jr. Jones is said to have offered in excess of £3 million for the fight. Collins is said to have been suspicious regarding the money that Jones was offering and said to the papers that "for £3 million I would fight Mike Tyson"; this only spurred the spin doctors to assume it was a challenge at Iron Mike.
Controversy surrounded the fight as it was rumoured that Collins would have to fight Calzaghe first before a showdown with Jones. Collins had accepted this and started to prepare to fight Calzaghe. In his preparation training for the fight that was never to be, Collins collapsed during sparring. When doctors told him that blows to the head could result in his death, he retired for a second time.
He is reported to have stated in Boxing World that he has spent so long chasing Roy Jones Jr that money was not an important factor any more and that he would "fight him in a phone box in front of two men and a dog".

Collins retired with his then wife and children to the town of Bangor, County Down, with a record of: W 36 (21 KOs) - L 3.











A very eccentric personality who is known to have enjoyed the nightlife, Benn had a record of 41 wins and 1 loss as an amateur boxer. He turned professional in 1987 with a win over Graeme Ahmed in Croydon. This win opened a streak of 22 consecutive knockout wins for The Dark Destroyer. The streak extended until 1989. Among the achievements reached by Benn during the knockout win streak were beating Fermin Chirino, winning the British commonwealth's Middleweight title with a win over Abdul Umaru, and retaining it against David Noel, brother of former world Lightweight champion Claude Noel. But then, he lost the title to Michael Watson, by a knockout in round six. With that, he also lost his record as an undefeated fighter. In 1987, Benn was approached by TV presenter Pogus Caesar who wanted to make a short documentary on the boxer for 'Here and Now' Central Television's flagship ethnic series. Filmed in the East End of London Benn spoke about growing up on the tough streets, and his life in the army -the film also included footage of Benn at his most devastating.

His next fight, against Jorge Amparo, was the first fight abroad for Benn and also the first Nigel Benn bout to last the full distance, when he won a 10 round decision over Amparo in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. After two more wins, he got his first opportunity at a world championship, when he faced WBO world Middleweight champion Doug DeWitt in Atlantic City. Benn crowned himself world champion by knocking out DeWitt (who had lasted 12 rounds against Thomas Hearns) in round eight. His next defense came against former WBC world champion Iran Barkley (who beat Hearns twice). He knocked Barkley out in round one. Then, he lost the world title, when he got knocked out in round nine by countryman Chris Eubank.

In 1991, he beat Marvin Hagler's half brother, Robbie Sims, by a knockout in round seven, and then he embarked in another winning streak, which would reach ten wins in a row. He won the WBC's world Super Middleweight title with a knockout in round four of defending world champion Mauro Galvano, after having beaten his future conqueror and world champion "Sugar Boy" Malinga by a decision in ten. He retained his title against Nick Piper, Galvano and Lou Gent before engaging in a rematch with Eubank. While Benn's second longest winning streak came to a halt, he retained the world title with a twelve round draw against Eubank. Next came Henry Wharton and Juan Carlos Gimenez, both of whom lost on points to Benn for the world title.

Benn's next fight would change his life forever: World Middleweight champion Gerald McClellan, eager to move up in weight and become a two time world champion just like Benn had done years before, challenged Benn. The fight was shown to many countries worldwide, and in the United States it was carried by Showtime. It was an eagerly anticipated match-up with many boxing fans tuning in, and McClellan dropped Benn out of the ring in round one. In round eight, Benn was dropped again. Seemingly on the verge of losing his title, Benn kept on charging, however, making for what several magazines called one of the fights of the year. In round ten, McClellan suddenly went down on one knee and the referee counted him the ten seconds to end the bout while he was still on one knee. McClellan collapsed when he went back to his corner and the scene inside the ring went berzerk, so much that Benn did not know what was happening until he was being interviewed by Showtime's commentator Dr. Ferdie Pacheco. McClellan was taken out on a stretcher and with an oxygen mask out of the ring, and he lost consciousness on his way to the hospital. He wouldn't recover consciousness for a very long time.

Benn spent the night at the emergency room waiting for news from his ring foe. The following morning, the McClellan family arrived in London and Benn was by their side. McClellan survived, but he has been blind ever since, and he was paralyzed for a very long period of time. Recently, he began to walk with the help of a cane. The following week after the fight, an article about it was published by Sports Illustrated.

According to Benn's trainer, this fight took out all the fighting spirit from Benn. As it happens many times when a tragedy of this type happens to a boxer, Benn had an ordinary record after that bout. He retained the title by knocking out future world champion Vincenzo Niardiello, and then he won a non-title bout, but that turned out to be his last career win. He lost to Malinga by a 12 round decision to lose the WBC world title, and then he was given a chance at the WBO's world title, but he lost to Steve Collins by a knockout in round four, after breaking his ankle during their fight in Manchester. An immediate rematch was ordered, also in Manchester, and that time around, Benn lost by a knockout in round seven.






On the 12th February 1974 something happened that would eventually change boxing history forever, a young boy was born, that young boy was called Naseem Salom Ali Hamed, or as he is now more widely known Naz or Prince Naseem Hamed. Naz started to learn how to box when he was only 7 years old, after his dad Sal sent him to Brendan Ingle's gym to help him to look after himself because he was such a small child.

In 1992 Naz had his first professional fight on the 14th April 1992 when he fought Ricky Beard and duly won in the second round which was soon to become a favourite round for Naz to destroy his opponents. Not just defeating his opponents physically was enough for Naz and he wore them down mentally as well with his constant talking and dancing away from punches during the rounds. Rounds began to pass where his opponents would barely hit him and would lose concentration for a few seconds, which was enough for Naz to unload a big punch, sending them to the canvas. Naz then had 10 more fights after his first professional bout before he came up with his first real challenge, on the 11th May 1994 he came up against Vincenzo Belcastro whom he challenged to become European Bantamweight Champion. Naz, of course won this even though it was one of his longest fights with victory being a unanimous points win (120-107 , 120-109 , 119-110) in Naz's home town of Sheffield. Naz defended his newly found crown on the 17th August 1994 against Antonio Picardi in which Naz had his opponent on the floor twice before he finally stayed there in the second round. Just under two months later on 12th October 1994 Naz fought Freddy Cruz for the vacant WBC International Super Bantamweight Championship title. Cruz had never been stopped in any of his previous 56 fights and in the run up to the fight made the mistake of calling the Prince a boy. The ref stopped the fight in the 6th round and the Prince was a winner once more. For his last fight of 1994 Naz fought Laureano Ramirez. Naz predicted that he would win the fight in the 3rd round and could have easily won at anytime but left it till the 3rd round before he sent his man to the canvas.

For his first fight of 1995 Naz fought Armando Castro in Glasgow. Naz dropped Castro to the canvas in the 4th round and celebrated with a somersault thinking he had won but Castro managed to get up and decided he wanted more punishment, the ref seemed to agree with him but not for long as he was to stop the fight later on in the 4th round. Next on the hit list was Sergio Liendo on the 4th March who Naz managed to finish in the 2nd round, after the referee let a fight which should have been stopped moments earlier go on with Liendo taking extra, possibly damaging hits which were un-necessary. The next hopeful was Enrique Angeles who Naz fought on the 6th May but unfortunately for him he only lasted 2 rounds before finding himself lying on the canvas another victim of the Princes punch. On the 1st July Naz took on Juan Polo-Perez who was another to make the same mistake Freddy Cruz made in calling Naz a boy. Perez like Cruz found himself floored in the 2nd round, when else! You don't insult the Prince and get away with it! For his next and probably most challenging fight up until this time Naz moved up to featherweight and 'somehow' became the No.1 contender for the WBO Featherweight Championship even though he had never fought in this weight! He fought the Welshman Steve Robinson on the 30th September in Cardiff in front of a partisan crowd of 16,000 screaming Welsh, waiting for their man Robinson to end the undefeated run of the Prince. Robinson was floored first in the 5th round before being sent to the canvas again in the 8th when the referee stopped the fight. The Prince had become King.

Naz's first fight of 1996 was on the 16th March against Said Lawal, not that it could really be called a fight as Naz's entrance to the ring actually lasted longed than the 35 seconds which it took Naz to stop Lawal. Three punches were thrown in the fight, unsurprisingly all by Naz. Luckily Pay-per-View boxing was not the in thing at this time! Next up on the 8th June came Daniel Alicea which put two young fighters, Alicea (23) and Naz (22), who were both unbeaten up against each other. In round one Hamed was on the floor and whether or not this was due to being off balance or because of a punch was irrelevant as in the 2nd round the fight was over when Naz sent Alicea to the canvas twice, the second time for the count. On the 31st August Naz fought Manuel Medina in one of his less than spectacular fights which he fought even though he was not 100%, he had been suffering with a chest infection and won when the fight was stopped in the 11th round. For his last fight of 1996 Naz fought Remigio Molina on the 9th November, Molina was unbeaten in 27 fights but only lasted till the 2nd round when the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

His first fight of 1997 on the 8th February saw him fight for the IBF Featherweight Championship against 48 fight veteran, of which 44 were wins(25 ko's), Tom 'Boom Boom' Johnson. This was Johnson's 12th defence of his title and unfortunately for him was to be his last as he was battered like hell in the 7th round before finally the ref stopped the fight towards the end of the 8th. The next fight for Naz came on the 3rd May when he fought Billy Hardy in Manchester. Hardy had said that Naz 'Might enter the ring on a chariot, but he would leave on a stretcher', Hardy was stopped after 93 seconds and would have been better off just lying on the floor as soon as the bell went for the start of the first round, well it would have been less painfull for him. On the 19th July Naz faced Juan Cabrera in London which was broadcast to the USA by the ABC Network, unfortunately the fight was a short one again with the ref stopping it in the 2nd round so the Americans didn't see too much of the great Naseem. Next up came another previously unstopped opponent in the form of Jose Badillo, but then he hadn't fought Naz before so he was bound to be unstopped. Badillo lasted until the 7th round when after a barrage of punches the ref finally stopped the fight. Finally on 19th December Naz crossed the Atlantic to feature in his first fight in front of the American Public and pitted against the American Kevin Kelley at New York's famous Madison Square Garden. Naz was knocked down in the 1st round and touched down with his gloves a few more times before he eventually got himself going and back into the fight. He floored Kelley in the 2nd and then had him down twice in the 4th round, the second time he didn't get up.

Naz first fight of 1998 was on the 18th April in Manchester against Wilfredo Vazquez who was the holder of the WBA title but gave this up so he could fight Naz, another more likely reason was the amount of money he could get in a fight against Naz! The referee stopped the fight after Vazquez was knocked down in the 3rd round and then twice in the 7th. For his next fight Naz again ventured once more across the Atlantic to the USA where he fought Wayne McCullough on the 31st October. Another successfull defence of his title when Naz won a unanimous points decision over Wayne McCullough after the fight went the distance which for a Naz fight is an unusual event. The fight was scored (116 - 112) ,(117 - 111) and (118 - 110). For his first fight of 1999 Naz will be fighting on the 10th April 1999 against Paul Ingle of Scarborough. Naz once again proved he is the best Pound for Pound featherweight in the division with a 11th round win over Paul Ingle. Ingle was down 3 times in a close fought contest and a short left to the head in the 11th laid him on the canvas unable to get to his feet before the count. Naz was down once in the fight after a wild swing at Ingle missed. This brought a cheer from the Ingle fans who thought that he had been knocked down by Ingle but Naz flicked himself back up on to his feet and got down to business. This was Naz' first fight under his new Trainer Oscar Suarez and he also had Emanuel Steward of the famous KronkGym in his corner as an advisor. Indeed it was Steward who in the 11th round told him Naz to use his left more which he did straight away to to finish Ingle!

Naz fought once more in 1999 against WBC Champion Cesar Soto from Mexico a respected fighter who many though would give Naz his toughest fight to date. The fight was to take place in the US on the 22nd October. The fight turned out to be the complete opposite of the good fight which had been promised in the weeks of advertising running up to the fight. The fight was probably the worst which Naz has had, though the blame cannot fully be with him as Soto came to fight dirty and did throughout the whole of the fight. Naz started the fight looking lively wearing his new black shorts with leopardskin trim. Once the fight reached the 3rd round it looked like it was going to be a long fight. Both boxers were warned for hitting on break. Naz was deducted a point in the 4th for a reason which was unclear and again in the 6th Naz lost another point when he wrestled Soto to the canvas. By the 8th round Soto was deducted a point after having nearly a dozen warnings from the ref for various wrong doings. Naz winks to his corner during the 9th round as he begins to pick off Soto more easily and blood starts to flow from Soto's battered nose. Coming to his corner at the end of the round Naz tells them that he believes that he broke Soto's nose in the last round.

Naz was warned by the referee again in the 10th and now has a bit of damage under his right eye. In round 12 Naz lets fly with a lovely left which was taking Soto down but Soto grabs hold of Naz and pulls him down as well. Soto has fought a poor fight so far, he started well but has been absolutely rubbish since the 3rd round. Soto's fight plan must have been to just grab and wrestle and he has helped spoil what should have been a really good fight. The fight goes to the scorecards and Naz is a clear winner even though he was deducted 2 points and he can add the WBC belt to his collection. Naz receives lots of criticism after the Soto fight and to add to this is stripped of his newly won WBC belt when he refuses to give up the WBO belt.

It is announced that Naz will fight again on the 11th March 2000 and that he will take on Junior Jones who, some say is on the way down but has a record which proves that he has the skill and ability to put on a good fight even though he has struggled to win his last 2 fights.

The fight with Junior Jones was called off when Jones decided that he was worth more than the money he was being offered to fight Naz. Several possibilitys for new opponents have been named including Paul Ingle, Steve Robinson and Vuyani Bungu and the favourite being Steve Robinson because he is the WBO number 1 ranked contender. The oponent for the next fight is named as Vuyani Bungu who has 'never' been knocked out in his career and has only lost 2 fights, both on points. The press and boxing's commentators and journalists seem to prefer the new choice of opponent with some actually tipping Bungu to cause an upset and beat Naz. Many believe that even though Bungu has not fought for 13 months his high workrate and style will cause Naz a lot of problems and that Bungu will wear Naz down.

The 11th of March arrives and in front of a packed crowd Bungu makes his way to the ring following a strange shouting 'witchdoctor' who is warning off evil spirits and whatever else he was supposed to be achieving.

Bungu arrives at the ring and moves to his corner and stares into the crowd and along with one of his entourage spots a person from NazWorld in the crowd about 8 rows back holding up a t-shirt with the NazWorld website address on it as well as the phrase Bung-Who! Naz is announced and he makes one of his most fantastic, and supposedly last, entertaining entrances sweeping in on a flying carpet high above the crowd to the music of Puff Daddy who leads him to the ring when his carpet lands. Once again the NazWorld/Bung-Who! t-shirt appears and this time it's on Sky Box Office as the cameras flick to it seconds before Naz flips over the rope and into the ring. After all the particulars are done the fight begins. From the off Naz looks more focused than he has been for his last few fights as he moves purposefully around the ring working shots to the head and body of Bungu. Naz is caught by a shot from Bungu but hardly seems to notice as he gives Bungu a decent shot in return which seems to make Bungu's knees wobble. Round 2 begins and Naz keeps to the style from round 1 unleashing more shots to the body than he has done in his last few fights. Naz once again wins this round and looks in blistering form as he avoids the usual showboating and demonstrates why he is the greatest featherweight.

In the 3rd round Naz begins to pick the pace up more and has Bungu in trouble but seems to hold back not wanting to finish the job yet as it seems he could have done since round 2. Bungu looks bewildered as he returns to his corner and the busy, frustrating style has not had any effect on Naz and he has lost all 3 rounds so far and is not even in the fight yet. Round 4 begins very much as round 3 ended with Naz again on top and half way into the round it's all over as Naz fakes one way, jabs Bungu to the head and then blasts a straight left through Bungus open guard and hits him on the chin. Bungu crashes to the canvas any his glazed eyes roll in his head as he trys to focus and see where he is and he rises just after the count of 10 but is obviously in no shape to continue as he stumbles about the ring and into the arms of the referee who leads him back to his corner.

Following the Bungu fight Hamed finally offered to fight long time WBO number one challenger, Juan Manuel Marquez. Marquez turned down the fight saying that he wanted more money. Hamed finally fought Augie Sanchez. Sanchez was a very hard puncher and a skilled amateur who once beat Floyd Mayweather. They engaged in a war in which both fighters were stunned. Naz finally won by devastating KO in the fourth round which left Sanchez in a stretcher.

After this fight Hamed relinquished his WBO title. Some people say it was because Istvan Kovacs was the WBO number one contender and Hamed didn't want to face a technical boxer who would give him problems. Hamed got rid of his title and opted to fight Marco Antonio Barrera. At the time, Barrera was coming off a stunning fight with Erik Morales that was considered to be the fight of the year. Hamed offered to fight Barrera, saying that he felt MAB was the true winner of the fight, and most of the boxing media agreed. Hamed vs. Barrera was set for April 7th, 2001 at the MGM Grand Hotel. This was Hamed's first fight in Las Vegas. Prior to the fight, he trained very little, according to his trainer, Emanuel Steward, and according to a BBC documentary regarding the fight. Steward claims Hamed would constantly be watching MAB's KO loss to Junior Jones instead of watching his more recent fights where Barrera had looked good.

Barrera defeated Naseem when the two finally met. Barrera suprised most by using his boxing skills rather then by brawling and counterpunching. Following this fight Hamed had one more fight against Manuel Calvo for the IBO title. Hamed won the fight but didn't come close to scoring a knockout. This led people to believe that Hamed was over the hill. Perhaps Hamed himself agreed; following this fight he has seemingly retired from the sport. He is said to be in the real estate development business and enjoying retirement. Hamed will always be remembered for attracting new fans to the sport and for bringing more attention and money to the lower weight divisions.