By Allan Fox: 48-year-old former two division world champion Steve Collins (36-3, 21 KO’s) says a fight between him and 43-year-old Roy Jones Jr. (56-8, 40 KO’s) is possible in 2013. He says both him and Jones Jr. have agreed on the fight and will split the money down the middle. Collins just needs to train hard and get ready for the fight. They also need a venue and date of course.
Collins hasn’t fought in 15 years since beating Craig Cummings by a 3rd round knockout in July 1997. Collins looks like he’s in good shape for an ex-fighter that is nearing 50. He’ll be turning 49 in July, and that’s pretty old to be still fighting. However, Jones Jr. will be turning 44 tomorrow, January 16th, and he appears to be totally shot now and has been for a long time.
With a job as part of the HBO analyst team, it’s unknown why Jones Jr. continues to fight when he’s no longer finding the same kind of success that he had during the prime of his career.
Collins said to talksport.co.uk “I spoke to Roy and we’re going to get it on. He wants one more fight before he retires and this is the one he wants. If we get a good offer we’ll split it down the middle and get it on. I would like 10-12 weeks to get ready. In my mind I already see how that fight goes and I can see the outcome. I feel like I’ve never been away. I’m looking forward to it.”
Collins says that the fight with Jones Jr. will likely take place in Dubai, as he says there’s a lot of interest in seeing the fight over. I can’t imagine that there are a lot of boxing fans in that country that still remember Collins but Jones Jr. obviously is someone that is still well known all around the work. He’s likely the drawing point for that fight. Collins says there’s also a possibility that the fight could take place in the UK, China or Russia.
Again, it’s unclear how many boxing fans you would get if the Jones-Collins fight was staged in Russia or China. That just seems like a bizarre place to stage that fight. If someone from those countries are willing to bankroll the fight, it might not be a bad deal, but the gate might not be nearly as high as it would be if they staged it in the UK where most of Collins’ fans are located.
It’s hard to imagine Collins beating Jones Jr. at this point. Jones Jr. might be a shot fighter, but he’s an active shot fighter and that’s going to be the difference in the fight. He’s more active and five years younger with much better hand speed.
Comments are closed.