Those whose New Year's predictions included an end to Steve Collins's self-imposed retirement will apparently be proven prescient. Hours after Roy Jones Jnr's two-round destruction New York policeman Rick Frazier at the Pensacola Civic Center, in Florida, Collins left to rejoin his family on holiday in Las Vegas, confident that he had nailed down a place on the lightheavyweight champion's 1999 dance card.
The Irish boxer spent less than 24 hours in Pensacola, where he was joined by his Dublin solicitor Brian Delahunt. The two spent the better part of Saturday in a whirlwind of discussions with Jones's lawyers, Fred and Stanley Levin, his promoter, Murad Muhammad, and with representatives of HBO, the American cable network which has Jones under long-term contract.
Each of the concerned parties described the talks as fruitful and productive and expressed confidence that a Jones-Collins fight could be set up for later in the year, but Collins's assumption that he will furnish the opposition for Jones's next defence is probably premature and overly optimistic.
Jones holds both the World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council versions of the 175-lb championship, which in itself creates a range of conflicting obligations that must be satisfied. Saturday night's exercise against Frazier, for instance, was forced upon Jones by the latter organisation after promoter Don King manoeuvred the ageing (39 -year-old) Frazier into a mandatory position. Jones already faces similar demands from the WBA to defend against its Number One, Argentina's Dario Matteoni.
Also waiting in the wings for Jones are Reggie Johnson, the current IBF light-heavyweight champion who narrowly bested Collins in a middleweight title fight a half-dozen years ago, Michael Nunn, the erstwhile WBC number one, whose refusal to fight Frazier triggered Saturday's mismatch, and a pair of German-based light-heavies, Graciano Rocchigiani and WBO champion Dariusz Michalczewski.
"Roy Jones told me `you're next,' and that's good enough for me," said Collins, who climbed into the ring to challenge Jones shortly after referee Arturo Garcia had taken Frazier into protective custody after two minutes and 59 seconds of the second round.
What Collins failed to note is that, in almost the same breath, Jones said the same thing to Nunn.
"The fight is going to happen," said Delahunt before departing for Dublin yesterday.
"We would like to do the fight," said HBO attorney Kery Davis, "but certainly not as Roy's next outing."
Having been cornered into televising two Jones mismatches in succession, said Davis, "we wouldn't want to have Roy Jones coming off fights against Otis Grant and Rick Frazier against a Steve Collins who hasn't fought in two years. The American boxing press would crucify us!
"Our preference would be to have Roy fight Reggie Johnson next. We'd like Collins to come back in the meantime, possibly on one of our `Boxing After Dark' shows, just to re-establish some credibility. But if they want to do a pay-per-view fight, they've got a very good shot at getting a Jones fight in the fall."
Discussions with the Levins centered around a possible JonesCollins/Naseem Hamed-Derrick Gainer double-header, conducted in separate buildings (Atlantic City, Pensacola, or Boston, along with Manchester's NYNEX Arena were all mentioned as possibilities), with the live closed-circuit flip-flopped to the respective audiences.
"I don't think Collins will be next," said Muhammad, "but there's a good chance it could happen later in the year if they want it. Steve Collins brings one thing to the picture that the others don't, and that's an established reputation and recognisablity among European television audiences. That's important, because Roy would like to establish his visibility over there before he retires from the ring."
