Tom Collins (born 1 July 1955) is a British former
boxer who held the British and European
light heavyweight
Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing
Professional
In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight.
The light heavyweight class has ...
titles and fought for three world titles.
Career
Born in
Curaçao, Collins was based in
Leeds. He began his professional career in 1977 and won his first six fights before suffering his first defeat in May 1978 to
Harald Skog. In December 1978 and January 1979 he twice fought
Dennis Andries who was at a similar stage in his career, Andries winning both fights. In February 1980 he won his first title, taking the
BBBofC Central Area light heavyweight title with a first round stoppage of Greg Evans.
In March 1981 he beat
Karl Canwell in an eliminator for
Bunny Johnson's British title, and beat Andries on points a year later to take the title vacated by Johnson.
[Silkov, Peter (2013)]
Dennis Andries: The Journeyman Who Became A Three-Time World Champion.
, ''The Boxing Tribune'', 27 August 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2015[Andries Bids for Title and Revenge]
, '' The Glasgow Herald'', 26 January 1984, p. 17. Retrieved 11 March 2015 He defended the title successfully in May 1982 against
Trevor Cattouse, stopping the challenger in the fourth round. He made a second successful defence in March 1983 against
Antonio Harris and a month later beat
Alex Sua on points in an eliminator for the Commonwealth title. The third defence of his British title came in January 1984 against Andries, and Andries took the title on points.
In a rematch three months later Andries won by the same result.
When Andries vacated the title, Collins got a chance to regain it when he faced
John Moody at the
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272.
Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...
in March 1987; Collins stopped Moody in the tenth round to become British champion for a second time.
In November 1987 he challenged for
Alex Blanchard's EBU European title, winning via a second round stoppage to become European champion.
[Ingram, Brian S. (2012) ''Australian Boxing World Champions'', Xlibris, , p. 246] Collins was due to fight
Charles Williams for the
IBF world light-heavyweight title in February 1988, but the fight was called off by promoter
Frank Warren due to the IBF's insistence that it should be fought over 15 rounds, with the BBBofC refusing to sanction a fight of more than 12 rounds. The first defence of his European title came in May 1988 against
Mark Kaylor. Collins knocked Kaylor out in the ninth round. Collins lost the European title in September when he was stopped in the seventh round by
Pedro van Raamsdonk.
Having relinquished the British title, he won it for a third time in March 1989 with a second round stoppage of defending champion
Tony Wilson.
In October 1989 Collins travelled to Australia to challenge
Jeff Harding for the
WBC world light-heavyweight title. After two rounds in which the fighters had traded heavy blows, Collins failed to come out for the third.
Collins' $25,000 purse was initially withheld but was paid the following month.
In August 1990 Collins regained the European title with a ninth round knockout of
Eric Nicoletta. He successfully defended the title in December 1990 against
Christophe Girard, and in May 1991 fought
Leeonzer Barber for the vacant
WBO world light-heavyweight title; Collins retired at the start of the sixth round.
His next four fights included three losses and one draw, but in August 1993 he challenged
Johnny Nelson for the World Boxing Federation world
cruiserweight title; Nelson stopped him in the first round.
[Sporting Digest: Boxing]
, '' The Independent'', 11 August 1993. Retrieved 11 March 2015 This was Collins' final professional fight.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Tom
1955 births
Living people
English male boxers
Light-heavyweight boxers
Cruiserweight boxers
Martial artists from Leeds