Original subtitles

SOUND OF SPEEDBALL BEING PUNCHED

When I was a small child, my father took me to a movie, and the movie was

called Joe Palooka.

I was about six at the time, and I was very impressed by this movie,

because in it, they trained this young guy to be a champion boxer.

Coming out of the movie, I can remember my dad is holding my hand,

and I said to him, one day I'm going to train a man to be the world

champion boxer.

And I remember my dad stopped and looked down at me, and he said to me,

well knowing you Tony, you probably will.

I got this new manager, and she said to me, what do you want?

I said, I want you to get me a boxer.

I also had this thing about Las Vegas that I didn't want to get into

things, even relationships, too deeply, because one day I would have

to go to Las Vegas and start a new life.

So when Colette rang me on the phone and said,

I've got your boxer, and I said, where is it gonna be?

She said, Las Vegas. I knew we couldn't lose then.

It was all over in my mind, I was there and we were going to win,

and that was the end of it.

Joe, where you going, pal? I don't know.

I hate to go back home.

You ain't going back home.

I just signed you up for another fight.

You'll be a sensation.

Guess who you're gonna fight? Guess who?

Who? The champion.

Just listen to the roars from the Irish crowd.

Welcome to the lion's den, Chris Eubank.

This is a tough, battle hardened fighter.

I said at 14 years old that I would become a world champion and

I'd never boxed before and it shows you that the universe is listening to you.

And it doesn't emphasise the humour, I could have been joking and

it gives you what you ask.

These are desperate moments...

Just one more punch like that from Eubank.

Collins must stand off to get through this round.

Eubank strutting his stuff.

This is mind games.

He has now convinced everybody here that he is the man.

He's the champion.

It's the Chris Eubank show.

I gotta take this away.

The right hand's got Collins! The right hand's got Collins!

What a cracking contest!

From Brattan, the reigning WBL super middle-weight champion of the world,

Chris Eubank.

The boxing business, you know, it's not about great promoters or great

trainers, it's about great fighters, because great fighters make promoters great.

They make trainers great.

On their own, we would disappear into oblivion.

We need talent.

And Eubank was top of the tree when it comes to selling his own form of talent.

What are we looking for? We're looking for entertainment,

that is interesting.

You're doing something where you have the control to do what, to

engross, you know, the eyes.

You know, how do I win the hearts, you know?

How do I get people to sit up on their seats like this?

You know, I can remember watching fights.

I'm not watching the fight, I'm watching one guy, every time the

camera comes around and the guy is just sitting like that.

I want to get that man to move.

I don't want him to just sit there.

I want to get him...

How do I move my audience?

We're at the start of a fabulous adventure on Sky Sports.

Mauricio Amaral.

Some people say that Eubank must be insane to try this, eight fights in a year.

Sam Storey.

He's got a tremendous right hand, he's got big heart, and he's different.

Dangerous Dan Schommer.

Very much the star attraction tonight, Eubank.

Henry Wharton.

He's still the man in charge of this WBO super middleweight division.

Would you please welcome into the ring, the boxers of the WBO super

middleweight championship of the world.

First the challenger for the title...

For me, Chris Eubank wasn't a boxer.

You know, he wasn't, he wasn't, you wouldn't say he had a great punch either.

He just didn't like boxing me because he knew I was a boxer, not a fighter.

Belfast loves boxers, Belfast loves a trier.

Belfast loves people who give their all in the ring.

Belfast cannot stand somebody who struts, who is arrogant, and they

love to see somebody like that go on the seat of their pants.

Ray Close fought him twice.

Thought he beat him the first time, but didn't get the decision.

He fought him the second time.

You know, didn't fight as well the second time.

And Ray Close felt he won it, but I didn't.

So they were going for a third fight.

There was a deal that would have netted him 1.6 million pounds,

he would have been made for life.

However, Ray did go for a routine brain scan in the Royal Victoria

Hospital, and a couple of days afterwards, Barney Eastwood

travelled up to his house in Bangor, and he broke the bad news that they

had discovered lesions on his brain.

So in essence, the British Boxing Board of Control intervened and says

that they were going to take away his license.

The fight that didn't happen...

That long ago.

Well, gentlemen, thank you very much for your understanding.

I think Ray is to be congratulated for turning up today, and let's wish

him best in luck in whatever he does from here.

You have a devastated Ray Close having the face of the cameras.

His career was in ruins, it was a cruel spectacle, an absolutely awful

spectacle to behold.

I remember that press conference, you know, and it was really sad.

It was, it was tragic to see Ray Close there.

I was kind of very uncomfortable watching one man whose career is

ending and another man who's just been handed the opportunity of a lifetime.

If it wasn't bad enough that your career and your livelihood was

shattered by the MRI scan, and you had to sit there at that press

conference between Barney Eastwood and Barry Hearn, you know, you'd

nothing to say, you'd nothing to add.

You just felt like a bit part player.

And then Close is asked to vacate the seat so Collins can sit in the

middle of the two mega promoters.

I went through the WBO top 10, I went through the WBC top 20, or the

IBF top 12, and the WBA top 15.

And then, really, I have to say, there was only one meaningful

contest that could be made, in such a way to guarantee value for money

for everyone, and at the same time, provide a meaningful fight.

They needed a replacement.

And I seem to be the guy who was replacing everybody throughout my

career, you know.

Getting the fight and getting there was like a Rocky story.

It was like a movie.

Stephen loved it.

He loved the boxing.

Honest to God, he was just -- he loved it.

He never used to go out, you know, the way the lads do go out dancing

and going here, there -- boxing was his, was his passion.

I had my first fight when I was eight.

So basically a club in the city centre.

I remember the kids that were there against me from the neighbourhood,

and I was there, I felt like on my own going into the lion's den,

everything about it appealed to me.

I knew there and then this is what I was gonna do.

I wanted him to get a trade, oh he loved the boxing, and that was it.

But he didn't make it his life.

In the beginning, he got an apprenticeship as electrician.

He was happy boxing, and he was happy training, and it was no bother.

There was no big deal about it.

We didn't think he was going to be a world title or anything like that,

but he was very good.

My father had just passed away recently, and I thought to myself,

I can make my own decisions now and do what I want to do.

So I gave up my job, a very good job, which my dad probably wouldn't have

let me give up if he was around.

And I said, now's the time to make the change and go to the States and

become a professional boxer.

Marvin Hagler was the middleweight champion of the world at the time.

I watched Marvin Hagler, I loved his style.

I wanted to learn to fight like he fought.

I believed his style would suit me, so I decided that I'm gonna, you

know, pack my bags and go over to the United States and train with Marvin Hagler.

So I settled in Boston, Massachusetts, got a little

apartment, got a job.

One evening, I drove to Brockton, Massachusetts.

I was introduced to Goody Petronelli, and I said, I'm gonna take over from Marvin.

Anybody else you say that to them, they think you're a lunatic.

But he went, that's great, and welcome into our gym, I'm delighted

to have you here, so he believed in me.

Goody Petronelli was a very positive person, and he's a very clever, wise

man, and he gave me confidence.

You know, it was a great start in my career.

Hadn't seen him in two years.

And when I walked into the Petronelli's gym, you know, as I

say, they were training some of the best fighters.

They were giving him the education.

And I looked at my brother Stephen, and I was in awe,

I actually was like, is that my brother?

He looked to me like somebody I'd watch on TV.

I was a sports writer for the Sunday Tribune at the time.

I'd covered his career when he was in America, there were probably five

reporters covering boxing for the Irish newspapers at the time, and

it's not like today, where you're sort of kept remote from the

fighters or from any sportsperson that you're covering.

So we got to know each other quite well.

When I went to cover the fight in New Jersey, I was staying with some

friends in New York, just sleeping on the floor, and kind of two days

before the fight, Steve rang to say, I've got you a deal in the hotel,

which was the Meadowlands Hilton in New Jersey.

And I was broke, I was a freelance journalist at the time, so it was a

really decent thing to do, especially that's, you know,

so close to the fight.

So we, you know, we'd become good friends at that stage.

I had the mindset that this can happen.

All I ever needed was two weeks notice.

You know, if someone came to me and said, you know, in a week, two weeks

time, there's an opening there, you know, for Collins, if he wants to

take it, I was always ready.

I got a phone call to say that Michael Watson had broken his nose in

preparation for a fight against Mike McCallum.

They needed someone to stand in as substitute, will I take it?

And of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

The chance to fight for the world title against a great fighter was

something that every young fighter dreamed of.

This is Animo Terrace in Cabra, where my father grew up and where I grew

up, as far as I'm concerned, this is where the next middleweight champion

of the world is coming from, which I believe is going to be me, Stephen Collins.

On February the 4th, this place is going to be a lit up with lights, and

there's going to be flags and bunting out, and everybody's going to

celebrate my victory.

I'm sorry about that Michael McCallum, that's it.

At the time, Steve, I think was like a novice.

Mike McCallum, I think was 33, 34 fights, you know, probably 30 knockouts.

Everybody thought it was a huge jump, a huge step.

I reckon I learned more in the one fight with him than I probably had in

my five previous fights.

He put together combinations.

I felt like standing back and saying, show us that again.

That was just, you know, he took me to school.

The Mike McCallum fight was really interesting.

I mean, Steve lost a unanimous decision, but that was the fight

that really put him into the, what they call the "who needs him" category.

You know, there's no real sort of commercial advantage in fighting

them, like you won't make millions from them, because they're not

personalities, and at the same time, there's a chance that you might lose to them.

In Britain, you had Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Michael Watson, on

prime time television every Saturday night, practically.

But Steve was in America, not making a huge amount of money.

Nigel Benn rewrote British middleweight boxing in America,

because this guy came over and smashed and beat up the best

middleweights they had in America and took all the titles.

And went back to London, Chris Eubank then, who beat Nigel Benn.

He became the big name, and I was, I was just left out on my own,

so I had to move from America and return back to Europe and start all

over again and try and break into the scene over here, which I knew was

going to be hard, but it was a lot harder than I expected.

When I approached managers and promoters in the UK, they had no

hesitation signing me up, so they could prevent me or let me fight

their fighters, I was under their control, so they now owned the danger man.

So it was always going to be hard for me.

I was with Barry Hearn in the early 90s, and I was number one contender

for the middleweight title, WBO middleweight, and the current

champion was a guy called Chris Pyatt, but we were both managed and

promoted by the same company, and he was never going to fight me because

his manager was my manager, and it wasn't allowed to happen until one

day Chris Pyatt jumped ship and went to Frank Warren.

Barry Hearn came straight to me and said, that fight's gonna happen.

This fight against Chris Pyatt, he was offered it, he took it.

He beat Chris Pyatt, and still there weren't, you know, there were no

million dollar fights being offered to him afterwards.

So he did, I think he did have a sense at that point of his career

that he was a journeyman, despite being a world champion.

He hadn't made a lot of money.

I remember he was trying to build a house at the time in Dublin, and,

you know, was actively talking about how he needed purses to build this house.

He'd had two world title fights, and he was still living in a rented

house in Swords.

He phoned me sometime in the summer of 1994 and he'd had this idea that

he wanted to write a book, and he asked me, would I help him with it?

He had a couple of fights arranged.

He was going to fight an American called Lonnie Beasley, and the fight

was supposed to happen in Hong Kong.

And these are the early chapters of the book, and they're all about

Steve's preparation for the fight.

So I spent quite a lot of time with him.

And then, you know, 24 hours, 48 hours before the fight we're

suddenly told the fight's off.

Steve's fight then was rescheduled for Boston, seven weeks later.

As the fight got closer, there was a kind of nervousness about Steve, and

it turned out that one of the Petronelli brothers with whom he had

a historical contractual dispute, was going to court to try to seize

his purse from the fight, and suddenly there's this doubt about

whether the fight would go ahead.

The day before the weigh in, I just, I lost all my strength.

I couldn't get out of bed.

I just became very lethargic, and they had to call for a doctor, and

the doctor said, under no circumstances was he gonna allow this

fight to go ahead.

At that time then I just thought, you know, my boxing career was over.

I returned home after that, on a real downer.

I was despairing, I thought there's no book here, you know, because

there's no story, like you can't write a boxing book in which there's no boxing.

This is a year in a boxer's life, and you're just talking about press

conferences and contracts and illness and medical certs.

He rang me in January.

It was a Friday night in January, and he said, how's the book going?

And I said, well, I don't, I just don't think there is a book at the moment.

And he said, right, well, how's about this for a book, I'm fighting

Chris Eubank.

The whole idea behind the tour is to take Eubank all over the country,

United Kingdom, Europe, wherever.

And it made sense because of obviously Steve, to do the fight in

Ireland, but where?

This is where it's all happening, behind us here the magnificent Green

Glens complex, Millstreet, County Cork, the venue for the Eurovision

Song Contest 1993.

Welcome friends to Memories of Millstreet.

You know, it was a time when things were very down in Ireland, and the

European community was a big thing, and everybody was talking about the

money that was coming.

And I, from reading the papers, came to the conclusion that all the money

that was coming into Ireland was going to Dublin.

And I said, hey guys, why can't we get some of that out into the rural Ireland?

One night, we were sitting around the fire, watching television from

Sweden, and I took a little, small brown envelope off the mantelpiece,

and I wrote, now that the Irish have won the Eurovision, I presume it

will be in Ireland next year, and I have this place.

And I said, if you consider it, you will have it free of charge.

I didn't hear from them for ages, but eventually they did come.

And when they looked at it, they, according to their own language that

was said, they were gobsmacked.

And then they started planning to how it could happen, take it out of

Dublin and bring it out in the country, 20 miles from the nearest

traffic light on that side, and 20 miles from the other side.

# There lives a great man here among us,

# Green Glens is a sight you must see

# He has done many great things for Millstreet

# You all know the famous Noel C.

# Oh Millstreet will always remember

# Those bright, happy days spent with you,

# Admiring your beauty and splendour

# And the few people so true.

There's a lot of television programmes, and there was two

journalists brought on that Marian Finucane Show, they called it the

arsehole of Ireland and all that kind of thing.

And where the hell is Millstreet?

Who is Millstreet and how did this happen?

Is it Millstreet in Cork city, or is it Millstreet somewhere?

# It was our great moment of pride

# Oh Millstreet we'll always remember...

This is an opportunity now to create something new, not just for

Millstreet alone or the Millstreet parish, but for all rural Ireland.

The Collins, Eubank thing came up then, and as soon as I saw that

Barry Hearn was the promoter, I found out his number and did it just direct.

Barry Hearn was back and forth to me when the Eubank fight was announced.

And he came back and he was talking about venues.

They never heard of Millstreet.

And I said, well, Millstreet is where the Eurovision song contest was held.

It's a great venue.

They said to me, we had to switch off the fax machine, because Noel

Duggan just sent us fax after fax and information about the venue, what he

could do, what he could provide, the whole support system he had there,

everything about it.

Well, I remember Noel telling me it's just around the corner from

Cork airport, it was an hour and a half drive from Cork airport!

It wasn't around the corner.

But it didn't really matter, because he was a thoroughly engaging

personality at the time, went like that.

I think they sat back and thought they had some old guy here who didn't

know what was going on and they were the big "I ams", but, you know,

I think to this day, they're still reeling from Noel C. Duggan.

I think he educated them like a way they'd never been educated before.

And I just loved it.

I loved -- I knew what they were getting into when they went over to

him, I thought, do you know what, they don't know who they're dealing with here.

This man's amazing.

I remember him saying to me when I showed him around, but Noel, he

said, where are the chimney pots? Where are the chimney pots?

And I didn't know what he meant by, where are the chimney pots.

And he meant, where are the crowd? Where do the crowds come from?

You know, surely they don't all live around here, like, then I took him

home when we were finished here and he was silent, but I could see that

he was enthused.

Will you come indoors and have a bowl of soup with me and the family?

And I thought, what a nice, what a nice fella.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 -- I should have counted these fingers, shouldn't I?

But he was smart and he was energetic.

He was a live wire and frankly, we needed him.

Before he left, he shook hands, he said, we'll do it.

That's a big headline.

It says a bowl of soup brings multi millions to a small town.

Having done the Eurovision and the big international shows and some

concerts, very big concerts, I knew that we could manage the handles, you know.

I'd say the only worry that we had was that Collins would get killed.

Press conferences were pretty mundane affairs, maybe somebody

would say a few things and spark off a little bit of a row, and the

journalists would give them a bit of copy.

But there might be only one sort of quote, and everybody has that same quote.

But on this occasion, it was remarkable.

Eubank arrived more or less on time, which was very unusual with him.

I was on my own, but I had my own little game plan, and that was to

undermine him, take him out of his comfort zone.

And the first, the first thing to do was his style.

He was a good dresser, and he was known for it, he was, I mean, best

dressed man in Britain, I think, twice.

So this is all part of him, so I want to match him, but in the Irish style.

So I got the countryman, Irish attire, the jacket, the cap, the whole lot.

And then I contacted a very well known Wolfhound breeding

family, and I asked, could I borrow their Wolfhound?

Which they kindly let me borrow.

They obviously met me around the corner, gave it to me, because

this dog was a beautiful dog, and they weren't just gonna hand me a

Wolfhound, you know.

They met me around the corner and then I'd bought this old mark II Jag

an old green Jaguar, which was a perfect car, I says right, this is it.

I remember Steve arriving dressed like Darby O'Gill.

I mean, it was extraordinary, you know, to see him in the flat cap,

the three piece suit, like thorn proof suit.

I think he had a shillelagh and this Irish Wolfhound.

I don't know where he got the Irish Wolf -- it wasn't his, like, you

know, but he had an Irish Wolfhound, and he got out of this green Jaguar.

And I couldn't believe it when I saw him coming, like, I didn't recognise

him at first, you know.

And he walks into the hotel, I knew something was going on, like, you

know, whatever this was, it was part of a plan.

You know, no one got underneath my skin.

You know, I was always kind of objective.

But he did a very good job.

You see, he turned up, remember I'm champion of the world.

So he turns up 45 minutes late.

He comes dressed as an Irish countryman.

He then proceeds to speak only in Irish.

Excellent tactics.

Tá míle fáilte roimh go léir anseo inniú.

ar an lá mór seo in mo shaol.

Agus deirim libh anois, go mbeidh and bua agam ar Cristóir Mac Eubanc...

(Laughter)

...an mhí Márta, go raibh míle maith agat.

Steve was very clever, and he would think of ways to get under an

opponent's skin before, before a fight,

but I had no idea what hell was about to be unleashed.

It started to go off the rails when he said, I deserve this.

And Chris said, talk to me about deserve, what is deserve?

There are starving children in Africa, do they deserve that?

Then he says to me, he said something to me, which, which, which caught me.

He said to me, everyone, everyone admires you.

You know, the quintessential English gentleman.

That's fantastic, that's great, he says.

I'm listening, where's he going with this?

We're talking about boxing, right, if you want to bring Africa

into it right, you are an African, Anglo-African, or African descent, right?

Why do you deny your African heritage and try to impersonate or behave like

in Englishman, when you're not?

He's asking a question, hey, well, what about this?

You're not really an Englishman, you're an African.

Chris got really, really angry.

Usually, he's so mentally tough, or was in those days that, you know, he

wouldn't be cowed by something like that.

You know, he would shake it off, or he would be the aggressor in those,

you know, kind of intellectual back and forths, but

he was really, really shaken.

And I remember the Lord Mayor went up to him afterwards and said, Would

you like a tour around the city?

And Chris said, Fuck this city! At the top of his voice.

He really, really had lost it.

No, you crossed the line that works, this is war.

I wanted to fight Chris Eubank because I didn't really like him,

I found him kind of disrespectful.

I just felt I wanted to teach him something, you know, teach him manners.

I'm there to take your title.

I'm there to end your career.

I mean, you're loving this, you're loving this whole, this whole show,

your lifestyle, you love this.

I'm taking it -- I'm here, I'm going to take this away from you.

I'm taking this from you, and I'm going to live this lifestyle now,

and it's over for you.

I wasn't the big name, I wasn't the golden goose, and it didn't make

sense or business for me to win this fight.

So I believed then that my opponent for this match wasn't just Chris

Eubank, it was the whole organisation.

My trainer was Freddie King.

Who was part of the Matchroom Company.

He had a stable of fighters, and one of his fighters was Herbie Hyde, and

he had a big title fight in Las Vegas.

So I'm on my own, I've no coach, and I'm fighting Chris Eubank.

And I just thought, you know, it's, it's obvious, I'm not that

concerned, I now have to look after myself.

So I booked my own flights out to Vegas to be with my trainer and coach.

But when I got out there, he wasn't there, so I was like a gypsy.

I had to find a gym.

I had to find a guy to coach me, who wasn't my coach.

This is preparation for the Chris Eubank title fight?!

So I knew, I knew what the script was.

I do recall being out there having this room booked in the MGM hotel.

I booked myself a room in the MGM hotel, and I'm trying to make weight

for this fight, even though it was super middleweight, not middleweight,

I still had to cut weight to make weight.

And I remember coming from my room every day with my training gear to go

to the gym and I used to walk through the food hall to get out, I had to

walk through smelling this food every day and I was starving, and I was on

my way to the gym to slog hard, work hard, and the heat was, it was

unbelievable, it was Vegas, and I hadn't got -- I had no money, and I

borrowed a bicycle off one of the coaches out there.

He loaned me his daughter's little yellow racing bike.

So I pick up a little bike from around the side, I used to hide it

around the back of the hotel, the MGM hotel.

My little training bag on my shoulder, and I get on this little

bike and I was cycling through the traffic on the big motorways

through Vegas to get to the Top Rank gym, and I had my workout, and then

I'd get on my little bike and I'd cycle back, you know.

It just wasn't, it wasn't the way things should happen,

it's not how someone should prepare for a world title.

But it just told me what was really going on, and it made me even more

determined to succeed, and it made me really want this more to prove that

I'm not just going to beat this fighter, I'm going to beat the whole system.

I was working as always, exclusively in my own mind, and that's how you win.

You don't think about your opponent, you think about what you are going

to do and who you are.

There is a psychological battle going on and winning that can be the fight.

I look at what people thought of me at the time, and I remember always

trying to explain I'm just a man.

I always thought myself to be a grasshopper.

That's the way in which I stay champion.

I always doubted myself, so I never took my foot off the pedal.

I trained meticulously.

I had the right mindset.

I trained and managed him to start with, we used to train in a gym on

about eight boxers, ten boxers, when was it, '87, 1987.

And I come in the gym, and he was training there with his brothers,

and I went, kid's good, beautifully balanced.

And that's where I met him.

He moved really smoothly, fast hands, he could hit.

Yeah, he had everything about him.

But you could say, that kid's gonna be good.

He was winning, beating everyone up, and I couldn't get him fights

because he was that good, and all avoiding him.

So I had a meeting with Barry Hearn, and we went on from there.

And we met at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Sheffield.

I sat there waiting, suited and booted as you'd expect, and in

wandered this charismatic personality with a certain style.

And he went, my name is Christopher Livingston Eubank.

I'm an athlete, and I know my worth.

That was the first sentence he ever said.

I thought, oh, you got me, mate, you got me.

My father worked at Ford Dagenhams, 90 pounds a week, bringing up four children.

The system crushes people.

It crushed my people, you know, slave trade, the Windrush

generation, my parents coming into the United Kingdom in the 1950s,

me being second generation.

And somehow, through the grace that my mother put in me, somehow

I didn't let all that prejudice, jealousy, you know, hate, racism,

I didn't let anything sit on me.

I want to be better prepared than him and take away this mindset he has,

which is very powerful, strong mindset, and he is in control.

I've upset him, but I need to take control of the whole scenario.

I needed to come back with the mind games.

I needed help to understand his mind games and strengthen and prepare

my mind game.

Dr. Tony Quinn has a doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy and

counselling, Master of Science degree in psychotherapy and neuro

linguistic programming, how the mind is programmed for success or failure.

Tony Quinn had a health shop business in Dublin, and he used to

sell these hypnotism tapes, and he would help people stop smoking or

help people to transform their lives.

And then he had this business where he would do seminars.

He would talk to them about changing their lives.

He looked like Jesus Christ, you know, he had a goatee.

He had this huge perm and a little bit of an aura about him as well.

You know, you never saw him, he was kind of reclusive.

You saw his shops everywhere, but you didn't see him often.

It's okay I'm here.

He got in touch with me through my manager, and we arranged, at the

time to meet in the MGM in Vegas.

And I knew nothing about boxing, by the way, I never saw a real boxing

match in my life, till I was involved with Steve.

So I said to him, What can I do for you, Steve?

And he said, anything you can.

I'm sitting there listening to the guy, and I'm thinking, how long is

this fight away?

And I think it was about five weeks.

And I'm thinking, Oh my God.

Then I said, who's your trainer?

And he said, I don't have a trainer at all.

And I said, stupidly, I thought all boxers had trainers.

So Steve said to me, well, Tony, I guess you're going to be the trainer.

And I go, whoa.

I never even saw a boxing match, Steve.

I was at a loss as to how I was going to train him straight away.

And then I said something really stupid that he thought was really stupid.

I said, is there any boxing gyms in Las Vegas?

So Steve says to me, it's the home of boxing, of course there are!

So I said, tomorrow, let's go down now and we'll pick out three

opponents, and we'll see how you do against them.

And frankly, he did so badly, I said, you know, Steve, I think I'd

do better than that myself.

And he was so annoyed, he was practically telling me to go home at

that point, where I'm saying, Jesus, Steve, we don't have time for this.

We've only got five weeks.

We need to get on with it.

Okay, this is combination number two, and that's a driving straight

left to the head, stepping in.

Then we have a straight right to solar plexus, left hook to head,

right hook to head.

Tell me when you're okay Mary and then start rolling a little.

Yeah, it's rolling now.

Action.

Tony Quinn was a master of martial arts, and I love Bruce Lee.

You know, I love Bruce Lee.

And he's talking Bruce Lee and the one inch punch.

And he said, I'll teach you the one inch punch.

So we used to practice the one inch punch over and over again.

I used to practice it all the time for Eubank, and I planned this whole,

this was a combination that Freddie King told me, which was a jab to the

head, bring his hands up, bend the knees and drive the straight hand

through the chest.

So I wanted to make that straight hand not just a straight hand,

I wanted to make it a one inch punch, so we practiced over and over.

When you have all of your mind going, your mind will generate this

palpable power, like a force.

It's a bit like what you'd see in Star Wars.

So now you're hitting a person with this extra force, and then you

become kind of superhuman.

And that's where I was going with Steve.

I frankly wanted him to be the only boxer ever in history to be able to

punch with this chi.

I mean, that's just a useful word for it, but think of it as life force.

Now, will I start?

Combination number 12.

This is to be delivered when the opponent is up against the ropes

with two hands up, protecting his head.

Step in with forearm block to opponents gloves,

followed by a driving right to the body with the knuckles facing the

ground, immediately followed by right uppercut to chin.

So we did no aerobics whatsoever, no running, no road work, no skipping,

nothing resembling aerobics.

And the reason being this, you see, for example, Chris Eubank ran for an

hour a day.

So I'm thinking, is he training to be a runner or a boxer?

In boxing, you need to be able to fight for three minutes all out.

And then, as far as I remember, you rested for a minute.

So why on Earth are you trying to run for an hour?

That doesn't make sense to me.

So all I did was train Steve to make maximum effort for three minutes at a time.

That's all I did.

It was easy.

Second one felt better.

Steve's demeanour, you could just see there was something different about him.

It was, it was, his focus was totally different.

I could see it because I'd spent so many times with Steve before each

fight, and there was something, you just knew, you just knew he was ready.

Do it again.

That one is good too, if you do it like that, put your two hands

together, push together hard and pulling down on your abs.

When he came back he was just a different person.

He had this kind of brashness about him.

He was always confident, but this was something different.

He'd completely rebranded himself, you know, the previous year, as the

Celtic Warrior.

And I think, I think that was all a marketing thing.

But when he went away, he kind of grew into that, that persona, and

then the stories, you know, I remember Steve told me on the phone

one night that, you know, Tony Quinn had trained him,

had mentally conditioned him, that when he heard Chris Eubank's voice,

he would hear Donald Duck.

And I mean, I thought this stuff was just nonsense, like I thought it

was madness.

I mean, Steve was a great boxer, he didn't need any of this stuff.

But then, I suppose, the sort of sinister twist to this was that he

started saying that Tony Quinn had trained him not to feel pain.

MARCHING BAND MUSIC

Well, we did go to some strange places.

Bruno fought at Shepton Mallet in an agricultural tent.

We had fights at the Scottish Showgrounds in Edinburgh.

It wasn't entirely off the radar, but rural Ireland for most people, was new.

There's just a magic and something about Millstreet, you arrive there

and you smell the air, you smell the countryside, the grass, everything

about it, there was a smell, an atmosphere down there.

When I arrived there, I just said, like, I'm the Celtic Warrior

and I'm coming home.

I have an opportunity here to be a superhero, to go to my opponent's

backyard, when I'm champion, on St Patrick's Day weekend.

Oh, look at me!

SIRENS

Oh huge excitement in Millstreet.

There was huge excitement in Ireland generally, because this was Steve

Collins, and since Barry McGuigan there'd really been no major world

level professional boxer from Ireland.

It was a technical nightmare, I have to say, as well, because there were

no permanent facilities to broadcast a boxing event in an environment like that.

It was actually very challenging.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I ask you please to welcome into the ring for

the official weigh-in, the reigning WBO middleweight champion of the

world and challenger for this title from Dublin, Steve Collins.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

There's never a weigh-in without a story, and the things that

happen at weigh-ins are generally just to try to build the gate, to

sell those last few tickets, to ensure a big walk up audience on the night.

So there's always boxers threatening to pull out.

Barney Eastwood was famous for it.

You know, all of McGuigan's fights, you know, there was always

a row over the gloves, over the nationality of the judges.

You get used to these things.

This was something completely different.

Ladies and gentlemen, we call first to the scales, the challenger, Steve Collins.

CHEERING

Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Collins came in at 11 stone, 13 and three

quarters of a pound.

I just hopped up my tracksuit, they called the weight out, 168 pound.

And Chris Eubank comes out, he strips off to his underwear, and

he's showing his muscles, and his physique and so on, and I thought,

he's never going to change, you know.

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Eubank has scaled 11 stone, 13 and three

quarters of a pound, the same as Steve Collins.

In the ring I'm fierce.

I have the correct attitude for the job.

I look correct.

I'm not supposed to look like a waiter.

I'm not supposed to look like a, you know, a property developer.

I'm supposed to look like a warrior.

We had a brief press conference there,

and, you know, talking to Chris and talking to me, and I said, and by the

way, I said, I've prepared for this fight in a way that I've never

prepared for a fight before.

I've got my mindset and I'm ready now for anything he throws at me,

physically, mentally, I've never been so well prepared in my life.

As a matter of fact, I introduced the guy who helped me prepare.

The issue has been raised that sometimes the mind tells the body

when to stop, and people are worried that he may go on through the pain

threshold, and it could cause Steve some damage, and people are worried about that.

Well, I think in something like boxing, the mind plays a big part in it.

I mean, a lot of people in situations where they're very

excited may actually feel no pain anyway, many boxers, I don't think,

feel pain till afterwards.

Now it's true, he will feel less pain than he normally would.

I mean, that is definitely true.

He'll also find that he's able to move much easier.

For instance, one of the things we do is that I've slowed down, so when

he sees the punches coming at him, they look about three times slower

than normal, and we've done this in the training sessions, and it's

worked very well.

We've also made the target three times bigger, so it's much easier

for him to be aware of what's happening.

But of course, I've told him at the same time, and this is instilled in

him, that he will be very aware of all dangers.

In fact, he'd be much more aware than normal of any danger there may be to him.

What a load of rubbish!

The only person didn't think it was a load of rubbish was Chris Eubank.

He thought it was black magic.

I'll never forget, I mean, we did the weigh-in, we did the press.

Collins came out with his cock and ball story,

but he looked believable.

The only person in the room that believed him was Chris Eubank.

Went back to the room, Eubank said to me, I'm going home.

The 43 fights I've had in the past, I've always known what I was dealing with.

I don't know what I'm dealing with tonight, I'm fighting someone who's

mechanically orientated, and that is just an unknown area.

It's not fair that I should be put into the situation.

I suppose it was a particularly sensitive time for Eubank, because

this was just three weeks after the Nigel Benn, Gerald McClellan fight.

Gerald McClellan had been left in a coma after the fight.

You know, he was left permanently blind, with restricted mobility, the

kind of brutality of boxing was at the forefront of everybody's minds,

but more so for Chris Eubank, because he'd been through a similar

experience himself four years earlier with Michael Watson.

Eubank's got snagged on the right again and again.

Eubanks is staggering.

Watching for the first 10 rounds, Eubank getting a severe

hiding from Watson, Watson was clearly in front and drops Eubank in

the 11th round, and like it looked like the fight was coming to an end

in Watson's favour, and all of a sudden, he pulls out that uppercut!

10 seconds left to go... And Watson's down!

Watson's down.

The bell's gonna save him.

He went back to the corner, my great friend, Jimmy Tibbs, worked on him,

and he talked to me, he said, Look, I said to him, are you okay?

Are you compos mentis?

And I could see that he was compos mentis.

He was answering the questions.

And then he went back out, but his legs hadn't recovered.

And Eubank just jumped on him.

It's all over.

He has stopped it.

People hit me for a living.

I hit people for a living.

There's nothing personal when I strike you, it's a point.

You know that should give me credit, shouldn't discredit me that I hit

people for a living.

Because I'm looking at it objectively, I score a point.

There is no malice.

So here comes the WBO super middleweight champion, Chris Eubank,

fresh from his win.

It is the main man.

I don't regret anything in my career, other than what happened to

Michael Watson.

Ladies and gentlemen, please, we must clear the ring.

Michael Watson has got to leave the ring.

Will you please now clear the ring and let's have a bit of order and

a bit of sanity, please.

That was a very sad night, and I remember walking out the gates of

the club thinking, yeah, this night will never be forgotten, and

not for good, but for bad.

Michael Watson had been in a coma for a month after and was left with

these life changing injuries from brain damage sustained at the hands

of Chris Eubank.

So you could totally understand why this suddenly worried him.

I think he felt genuine fear then.

I understand getting into a ring with a man who was trained to be

the best he can be.

Under hypnosis, basically, he will be more, mentally.

I mean, and if you talk to anyone in the business, you'll get to

understand that it's 85% mental because it's only endurance.

Yeah, he didn't like that.

He didn't want to go ahead with the fight.

I said, listen, once you whack him or he hits you, mate, all that

hypnotism goes out the window, mate, that's all gone.

I said, Chris, you know, ask yourself a rational question, can

you hypnotize a chin?

The answer is no.

But anyway, Ronnie Davis, Chris Eubank's trainer and me, sat up till

one o'clock in the morning convincing him to take the fight.

There's nothing I can do about it, I'm in that corner.

If I walk away from the fight now, they say, Well, you're a coward.

Well, they say that, you know, you have no more credibility.

I shouldn't do this.

I shouldn't be in that ring tonight, this is wrong.

This is unfair.

That's legal cheating, that's not right.

It was scary, and when you'd see in the paper about the air ambulances,

and how long it took the air ambulances to go from here to the

wherever, if there was a bad accident in the ring, you had all

those kind of worries all right.

It was different to the Eurovision.

The Eurovision was a gentle thing.

The other thing was war.

And a very good evening to you from the Green Glens Arena here in

Millstreet in the deep rural south west of Ireland.

There is a fantastic atmosphere here.

It's already a famous venue in Irish terms, a Eurovision Song Contest

victory here a couple of years ago, but the roof will truly lift off if

sporting history is made here for Ireland and if Steve Collins can

become the WBO world super middleweight champion.

It's all in front of us, and here to share the atmosphere, one of the

finest fighters ever produced in these shores, Barry McGuigan,

we'll hear from Barry in just a moment or two.

It was the hottest ticket in town.

They were sold out in seconds.

And lucky enough, I had a couple of thousand tickets in a little old

rucksack there that were pretty valuable.

So at the time, my brother, Patrick Peters, we'd the Wilton pub

in Bishopstown in Cork, he thought it'd be good idea to sell

some tickets from the pubs.

I said, sure, look, that could be interesting.

So I got him down 250 and he came in early, I think, one morning, and

there was, I think, three or 4,000 people.

It was mental, the queue outside, so I had to get some fella on a

motorbike try to get down with five or 700 tickets pretty quick.

Steve, I know you very well, and I've never seen you as intense as I

have over the past few days.

What do you think is gonna happen? I'm gonna win.

New champ.

Can I ask you to welcome into the arena the reigning WBO middleweight

champion of the world and challenger for the title, from Dublin, Steve Collins.

LOUD ROAR

I was outside the dressing room, and when Freddie King says to me,

Mick, make sure no one sticks their -- pokes their finger in his eye or

slaps him or tries to upset him.

Straight away, the big brother kicked in, and that's all, I just

focused on him, and my job was to make sure that he got up and didn't

trip or anything, and got him in, sat him on his stool.

I remember all the guards there.

That's one of my outstanding memories.

The Gardaí did the official security for the event.

So it's full of guards.

You know, it felt like something really, really serious was

happening, because you'd never see a thousand guards under one roof like that.

There was a huge number of Dublin criminals at the fight as well.

Most of them I recognised from the papers, you know, they all went

to the fight, just criminals and guards rubbing shoulders under the same roof.

I mean, it was like a Roman arena.

It was unbelievable.

I've never, in all -- I worked with my brother for seven years doing

corner man, I've been at lots of shows, and I've never, ever

experienced the intensity.

I had the privilege of leaving him in, and he didn't even know that I

left him into the ring, he was so focused.

LOUD CHEERING

It was nearly a tougher fight to get into the ring with the

people, the way they were in, you know, and once we got into the ring,

I think one of the cameras slightly picked up.

I had a very sizable bet with Barney, you know, I wasn't --

might be earning a lot of money at the time, but I had my life savings

on him anyway.

Before I sat down, I got them to put the Walkman on, with the earphones

in, to listen to the music, to cut out Chris Eubank.

And I put the hood -- I mean, I even designed my rope, so I could put

the hood up and not look at him, you know, and I put the hood up, I sat

down, I listened to my music, and I switched off.

And then, you know, it all began.

MUSIC PLAYS "MARS, THE BRINGER OF WAR"

In the dressing room, he used to put his blinkers on.

And he'd be focused, no one could speak, and he would take that into the ring.

And he was so strong minded, nothing, nothing phased him.

If anything happened, you know, they could have dropped a bomb in

the next room and it wouldn't have worried him.

He would have just carried on.

He goes, Don't worry about it Davis, it'll be okay.

Because that's what he's like.

I said, let me do the worrying, I done the worrying, as long as he won

the fight, I didn't mind.

MUSIC PLAYS

The music began, Tina Turner, Simply The Best, which is one of the best

entrance songs you could have.

When that started, the whole place erupted.

Everybody starts singing, Simply The Best.

And he's coming down, the lights are all on him.

Everybody's watching him, it's all about him, it's Chris Eubank,

it's his show, it's him, he's the champ.

The guy sitting in the corner, he's just a part.

MUSIC PLAYS "SIMPLY THE BEST" BY TINA TURNER

SINGING, CHEERING AND SHOUTING

By the time we all got together, it was like a party, you know, we were

all singing along, great form, having a few drinks and what have you.

I'll never forget it, we were all standing on the seats.

And when they were coming out, and the gas part was we were all happy.

And when Eubanks was coming out, we were all singing.

Do you understand? # simply the best.

And I was saying to meself, why are we singing this to him?

SIMPLY THE BEST CONTINUES TO PLAY

LOUD CHEERING AND SHOUTING

I'm walking into a cauldron of people who are against me.

And I'm walking towards the danger.

Look at me.

It's wonderful, it's wonderful, it's for me, can you not see?

You know, you know, if you're a fighter, you're not existing, you're

not playing it safe.

How many people can say that?

How many people can say that they were in real and present danger, and

they were not running, they weren't looking to actually escape it?

They were moving towards it, they were combating it.

Oh, what?

Oh mate!

Oh...

That's beautiful, sorry, that's beautiful.

CROWD CHANT "STEVO, STEVO"

The more people hissed and spat at him and screamed at him and said the

most abusive things to him, he would just touch his gloves and walk in and

he'd wink at them, and he'd nod the head and he'd put the chin up like this.

It was just great.

I used to sit there ringside going, look at these guys,

and they're going, we hate you.

And he'd go, too bad.

CROWD CHANT "STEVO, STEVO"

The image he saw when he came to the ring, was he saw me not even paying

attention to him.

This, all this effort he put in was a waste and that, to me, was like a body blow.

I remember the ropes moving and the spring on the ropes, and he hit the

canvas, I could hear him hit the canvas.

And I just went, right, this is it now.

Stick to your plan. This is working, you know.

And you know, obviously I couldn't see, I was aware, and I knew he'd be

looking at me, and I just totally switched off, and I waited.

CROWD CHANT "STEVO, STEVO"

It wasn't until they announced me that I even acknowledged anybody.

But they announced me, then I'd get up and I came out of my trance.

I took off my robe, and I walked straight to the centre of the ring to

front him, you know.

And when I fronted him, it wasn't till I looked back on video that

something happened that never happened before, and I must have

obviously scared him and I scared his corner man, because

his corner man, Ronnie Davis, who usually stands behind, like most

corner men do, behind the fighters, stood between the two of us and put

his arm out.

I actually believe and think he was afraid I was gonna attack him before

the fight even started.

So I had them all rattled.

You can see my lips move, and I kept telling him, I kept telling him

"new champ, I'm gonna win".

"I'm the new champ, I'm gonna win." "It's over."

He couldn't even look at me.

He put his head down because he just couldn't, he put his head down,

he looked at the ground.

So he's looking down at the ground, his trainer's there, giving us a

part, and I'm giving it the whole "Big I Am".

And I went back to the corner, put the mouthpiece in, it was like a

movie, it was great, this is gonna be so easy, you know.

And the bell rang and I went down...

Whack!

Fuckin' hell that hurt.

Oh... Collins.

Is that counted as a knockdown? No, it's not.

Collins jumped up and shouted, no knockdown.

But it did seem to be a glance of the right hand.

LOUD ROAR

Collins was very clever, a very clever person.

He had a good, very good brain on him.

He knew, as he said they had to cancel each other out right through

the fight, because if you let Eubanks flow, you'd get murdered.

He'd... cor!

Didn't land with that, the crowd at the back of the hall thought he did,

it only hit the glove of Eubank.

And those punches from Collins do get through.

Three or four of them.

He did like to stand back, and he was accused of being boring at times

and one pace.

Collins knew that.

Collins knew to keep the pace of the fight high, go in, do his work, and

take a step back, and then just retreat and move to the left and go

in again.

So it was a tactical thing.

And I even said it in the commentary that night.

I said, you know, Eubank can't allow Collins to go in, steal a couple of

shots and then get back out again, he's got to go to him.

Everybody has their qualities and his quality was fighting,

backing up, you know, getting hit and not having any effect on him,

and walking guys on to counter punches.

And by God, could he do it well!

The gratitude I have for being chosen for this vocation, I can't

tell you how lucky I've been that I did it correctly, because you can't

do it, you can't make it if you don't do it correctly, but if you do

it correctly, you continue to, you continue to enjoy your career over

and over and over and over.

Collins, once again he's past.

He did seem to hurt Eubank a little bit there with them punches.

Chris Eubank was verbal, but so was I, and I would talk to

him, and I felt so comfortable in there.

I felt so well prepared, and I was enjoying it, because I knew, I knew I

could beat him.

I knew I had the advantage, so I knew I had the skills and experience to beat him.

So I felt pretty comfortable.

He was dangerous, he did catch with some good shots.

So I was always very much aware of his danger, and I knew as the fight

went on, and I felt I was in control.

As the fight went on, he was getting more dangerous because he knew it

wasn't going his way.

Surely there could be no doubting Collins' desire here.

I feel Eubank's got to pick it up.

He's got to try and do something big in one of these rounds.

I just feel he's slightly getting out worked by Collins.

Between Freddie King and the Tony Quinn teaching me one inch punch,

that was the jab to the head, drop the legs, straight to the body, and

come back with the left hook, which is my best shot.

LOUD CHEER

I reckon if it had caught him, it would have knocked him out, but

because I put so much drive into the right hand, I practically lifted him

off his feet, and drove him back so far, then when the left hook came

around, I actually -- he was too far away.

I missed him.

Crashes through his right. Eubank is in trouble here.

Well Collins said he had the extra punch power.

And Eubank comes back in terrific style...

What a round this is, look at Eubank.

Suddenly come back with an answer.

He's been stung by that... BELL RINGS

It was the first time he's been down since 1991.

There were several fights where Eubank just, we thought he just

didn't do enough to get the decision.

But then you're judging it against him, and then the judges all come

back for him and then you start to think, hold on a second,

well if I do that, I'll be made to look like an idiot again.

And so you start to think, well, the close rounds, maybe I'll give it

to Eubank.

There were a lot of, and I don't mean this to be in any way

disrespectful, Eubank was a tremendous fighter.

Often it looked like he was out-worked for a round.

And I would say it's, you know, he's A, and the other guy's B, and I was

giving B rounds that were close.

And then I see at the end of the fight, actually all those rounds

were given to Eubank.

Good moments again from Collins, Eubank has to do something special.

He's got to pull a big one, and he's trying with that right hand.

Key phase of the fight now.

LOUD ROAR

The Irish crowd, a lot of them were on their feet as those punches got through.

When he had a fight and he'd come back in the gym, he'd had a few

weeks off, which he never took a few weeks off the gym, but he hadn't

sparred, he let the opponents hit him.

And I said, what are you doing, what are you doing?

I need to feel the pain, I need to feel the pain.

That's what he was like, and he would overcome it with his mental,

as I said, I've never had a fighter like him with such mental strength.

I used to say to him, don't rely on that punch resistance to win fights.

He's no, no, I won't, he said, I know what I'm doing.

Crushing left hand, but Collins takes the punches as the bell goes

to end that round.

Eubank punches the air.

A puncher always has a chance in a fight.

Doesn't matter how far behind he is, a puncher always has a chance.

Eubank had picked himself up off the floor against Nigel Benn to stop Nigel Benn.

In that awful final round against Michael Watson, he was, he's out on

his feet, he was knocked down, stood up and delivered this uppercut,

which was, you know, the punch that essentially ended Michael Watson's

career and almost ended his life.

So he had this extraordinary explosive power.

His WBO Super middleweight championship.

In this his 15th... and he's caught Collins

As I was going down, just look at my expression.

I'm going, I'm smiling, I'm going, fuck, you know, because I knew I was

caught square.

I got up on one knee, and the referee came to me, and I got up and

I put up the glove, and he says, are you fine? I said, yeah, great.

And then Eubank ran at me.

I thought, two or three more punches and it's over, and you just expected

Eubank to charge in there with fists flailing and finish the fight.

Is Collins' head really clear?

I was banging the canvas, finish the fight, finish the fight, finish him,

finish him off and he wouldn't.

He just walked about.

May make the crisis a very deep and alarming one indeed for Steve Collins.

Yes, his legs still don't look solid.

He postured, he posed, he didn't make the commitment, and frankly,

let Steve Collins off the hook.

And Steve was a good enough fighter to take advantage.

What do you think he's saying?

I think he's just trying to lull him into a false sense of security.

He's trying to bring Collins in, trying to make him make a mistake

so he can counter.

They're both saying, come on, come on.

I think they both want the other to lead, so that they can counter.

He was just hopeless at coming forward, and he was pretty gassed at

that stage.

And even though he knew he was well behind, he couldn't do it.

He simply couldn't come forward and fight aggressively enough.

I don't want to, I'd rather not actually talk on that for this

reason that it takes credit away from Steve, that I can't do, no.

I chose to do what I did and it was a choice I made.

He was in trouble in the early seconds of the round, and I was kind

of expecting a Eubank barrage really, for the rest of the round.

That has not happened.

That was a slip.

As the bell goes, but that was a 10-8 round for Chris Eubank.

He come back to the corner.

And I've got him to realise, I slapped him so hard.

I said, you've just blown it boy, you've just blown it.

You're gonna stop him.

Sit down, sit down.

Davey seemed to be furious with him for not finishing the fight when

he could have and he said, you've got two rounds to win the fight.

You've got two rounds to save your title.

Pretty close again here as they touch gloves, the final three minutes.

But one thing strikes me, try telling this big Irish crowd that

Collins is not ahead.

The press, or a few of them anyway, think Eubank might be winning.

I've never been under so much pressure, I've never been so wanting

to succeed and determined and in a dangerous place ever in my career,

as I had been that night, and I did put myself under pressure.

And I did say things public to purposely put myself under pressure.

I wanted to be under pressure.

I wanted to be in a situation that you have to win this.

After all you've said, all you've gobbed off, all you've done,

if you don't back this up, you're finished.

Whoa, big right from Eubank!

Collins took it very, very well indeed.

I would rank Chris Eubank as the physically strongest,

toughest and probably one of the most determined fighters I've ever fought.

I felt he was dangerous to the last second of the last round,

and really wanted to keep his title.

Really on instinct, with the batteries going ever flatter...

BELL RINGS

Who's got that?

We shall see.

It was close, as I said, all the newspapers and TV had him two rounds up.

Look at the tape, and you'll see me inside in the ring,

I said, Steve, I think you've won.

And he threw his arm around my neck, and he said, I know I have won.

Chris Eubank was the golden goose of Sky Sports and Matchroom Boxing.

So were they going to let -- and I won't even say it was a close fight

when he fought Steve, I don't think it was.

I think Steve won the fight by probably eight to four rounds.

But could we see him being robbed?

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs

and blaming it on you.

If you can trust yourself, when all men doubt you, but make allowance

for their doubting too.

If you can dream and not make dreams your master.

If you can think and not make thoughts your aim.

If you can meet with triumph and disaster,

and treat those two imposters just the same.

Yours is this earth and everything that is in it,

and which is more, you will be a standard bearer.

You will be an example.

You will be a benchmark.

You will be, you will be a man.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a unanimous decision...

CHEERING

When I was writing the column for that Saturday, it was Saturday

evening column, which is the night of the fight, I knew I was sticking

my neck out, but I did go for Collins, it was against the grain,

because nobody else seemed to be, you know, convinced that he could do it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the winner and the new...

LOUD CHEERING

Eubanks was the kiddie on the block.

He was the shining example of success.

And then this little kid from Cabra, from a working class family, comes

in and just takes it from under him.

It was just the worst idea ever had, as it turned out, wasn't it?

You know, we had Steve Collins had just won the middleweight title,

he beat Chris Pyatt.

And then I come up with this idea.

Look, you know, we can't really seem to find a big middleweight fight.

Why don't you move up to super middleweight?

And I'm virtually saying to him, why don't you move up to super

middleweight and get beat?

Because it doesn't really matter, because you're still going to be

middleweight champion and you're gonna get a colossal payday.

It all seemed to tick so many boxes.

And then, you know, Steve forgot the script, didn't he really?

No complaints.

I don't have any complaints.

An opponent brings you to places where you can only look back and

thank them for.

I thank them for putting me through what they put me through.

In regards to that first loss, it was the relief that, you know,

perhaps you can see me now as a human being, because I am.

I tell you the truth, it was very close.

It was a very, very close fight, and it was -- when Stephen won,

I needn't tell you, oh my God, it was great.

It was great because Eubanks was good too, you know.

And they all thought Eubanks was going to win because he was heard

of, and he was known and he was tough, but he wasn't tougher than Stephen.

I just thought Steve was the perfect guy to work with.

It made it all very easy for me.

I felt I was very lucky, but I thought there was something you see

strange going on, from the time I was with my dad watching that movie,

then I always thought I was going to be in Vegas, like all, you know, it

was destiny, really.

Steve never lost again.

It's like a path.

So we got on that path together for a while, and we were both winners.

It was elevated into the air.

I'm sure it's probably picked up on my brothers and family, but I just

rose into the air, and I thought, do you know, if I die now,

I've achieved it.

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