Nigel Collins
51 articles · Ringtv.com
-
Nigel Collins: Fights we want to see in 2016
Boxing attracts dreamers both in and outside the ring, so it's natural to fantasize about the fights we want to see. Unlike most dreams, however, boxing fantasies sometimes come true. Here then…
-
Nigel Collins: It’s past time to focus on Daniel Jacobs the fighter
Peter Quillin's Chaplinesque stagger along the ropes is the unforgettable takeaway from his fight with Daniel Jacobs, the kind of comically tragic pratfall that only boxing can provide. Quillin's equilibrium had been…
-
Can Cotto-Alvarez uphold middleweight’s great tradition?
You don't hear much about Jack "The Nonpareil" Dempsey these days, and there's nothing surprising about that. After all, the boxer whose nickname means "without equal" threw his final competitive punch in…
-
Superfights and the Mayweather effect
Unlike what happened to Franz Kafka's unfortunate protagonist, Gregor Samsa, metamorphosis doesn't normally take place overnight. What we saw inside the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last Saturday, when Floyd…
-
Can Mayweather-PacMan equal hype?
It was the fight that fans and the bottom-line boys had been drooling over, a surefire match that seemed to have everything going for it. All 11,601 seats inside the Mandalay Bay…
-
Pacquiao-Algieri: Tuneup or trap?
It was early in the morning on April 20, 1973, and whoever was ringing my doorbell wasn't going to stop. I rolled out of bed, pulled on my jeans and staggered groggily…
-
Is ‘Money’ still the best in the world?
"You always say, 'I'll quit when I start to slide,' then one morning you wake up and realize you've done slid." -- Sugar Ray Robinson You knew things were changing when Warren…
-
Maidana, an anything-goes fighter
"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." --Winston Churchill Marcos Maidana looked pretty spiffy as he stood behind the podium at the final news conference prior to his first…
-
A fresh look at Wladimir Klitschko
When the fight was finally stopped at the end of the ninth round, the crowd of more than 60,000 roared its approval. This was what they had come to see and every…
-
Things we learned on Saturday
For a split second, Kell Brook must have felt like he was in the ring with Sakio Bika. Moments after his majority decision over Shawn Porter was announced, his promoter, Eddie Hearn,…
-
The eternal debate: Strength vs. skill
Oscar De La Hoya, who apparently hasn't stopped smiling since his divorce from Richard Schaefer became final, was the only person in the ring at the conclusion of the Canelo Alvarez-Erislandy Lara…
-
A brand fans can trust
I once encountered Juan Manuel Marquez on Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. I called his name and he turned around, seemingly surprised that anybody recognized him in that part of town.…
-
The polarization of boxing
When ring announcer Johnny Addie grabbed the microphone suspended above the ring at New York's Madison Square Garden and faced the TV cameras, the raucous crowd watching on closed circuit inside the…
-
Pacquiao transitions into savvy boxer
"The things I used to do; some I won't do no more." -- Guitar Slim When ESPN's Bernardo Osuna asked Manny Pacquiao about the right-hand rocket from Timothy Bradley Jr. that staggered…
-
Channeling the PacMan of old
"Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall." -- Tobias Smollett Not long after his Dec. 2012 knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, Manny Pacquiao strolled into the swank Sofitel Philippine Plaza…
-
The great delusion of boxing
It has been said that the truth will set you free, but in boxing an axiom often attributed to the Talmud is far more appropriate: "We do not see the world as…
-
’12 Days’: Pacquiao-Provodnikov
On June 26, 1891, two boxers incongruently dressed in tuxedos, boxed an exhibition on the stage of San Francisco?s Bush Street Theater. One was heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan and the other…
-
Has Donaire’s window closed?
The slender figure wearing a white fedora and a gleaming smile could have passed for a 15-year-old, and if it weren't for a tiny soul patch under his lower lip, you might…
-
Hope for another Mile High melee
I was sitting in the back seat of promoter Russell Peltz's car, outside of Joe Frazier's North Philly gym, when Ron Lyle climbed into the front seat. He was rebuilding from his…
-
A real-life fantasy fight
The orgasmic exhilaration that greeted the announcement of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Canelo Alvarez match was, to a certain extent, because of how quickly the superfight came together. We are not used to…
