“I was never an amateur boxer — I’m like a kid in college who never went to primary or secondary school.”

Steve Collins Jr
Aug 25, 2017 · 7 min read

In the lead up to my next few fights, this weekly blog will detail the life of a boxer at the other end of the food chain, how I train, how I live and the real life stories of an athlete blindly chasing a dream.

Where to start? Firstly, thanks for all the feedback on last weeks blog, a lot of people got in touch with questions, views and opinions— more of the same please!

So here we are, 22 days out from my next fight in Belfast and things are going to plan, I’m healthy, slightly less fat than three weeks ago, and working consistently to improve my style and skill-set. I’ve no opponent yet, so cant prepare for a particular style, but that comes with the territory of being a lower-level fighter, the bigger the fight the more notice of opponent and preparation you can do — imagine Floyd Mayweather finding out who he is fighting the week of the fight! My last fight I was fighting a southpaw (lefty) and so all my sparring (training) was focused on fighting southpaws and getting used to the tricky style. So for this fight what ever the style and whoever the opponent, I’ll be ready.

Working on some technique and combos

One question I got from a lot of people after last weeks blog was about my weight cut — having been a big 102kg, to then fighting at 79kg a few years later, people wanted to know how I did it. What actually interested them more is how I cut the 8kg (1.25 stone in real money) in a week prior to my Irish title fight. “Would you have any tips on how to do this Stevie?”. Yes I would — don’t. It’s horrible, grim and definitely not healthy. This time around I’ve ensured that I’ve looked after my body better during my downtime between fights — where once I used to balloon out, now I have cautiously avoided eating in my favourite haunts — Bunsen, MyMeat Wagon & AussieBBQ, and am in a better place. Cutting that amount of weight in such a short space of time is something I hopefully won’t need to do again.

On June 25th, 2017 at 9pm I fought in my biggest professional fight to date against Irish Champion Paddy McDonagh for the Irish light-heavyweight title. At 1pm on June 24th, 2017 I was weighing in, needing to hit 79.9kg to make Championship weight. At 8am on June 24th, 2017, just five hours before the weigh-in and about 36 hours before my biggest career fight to date I entered a sauna, I stayed in that sauna wrapped in towels and wearing four layers of clothes for over four hours — I was drained, I was beyond thirsty, I was starving. I left the sauna, got into a car (picture below), drove to the weigh-in. At 1pm I weighed in at 79.9kg — this is the life of a boxer nobody sees, and this is the same for all boxers, everyone goes through it before a fight, its not an advantage or disadvantage, but a fact of the game.

In the car on the way to weigh-in at 79.9kg for my Irish title fight, direct from four hours+ in a sauna.

What I’m going to do in the lead up to my fight on September 16th is document my weight cut — what I eat, why I eat it, what goes into my body the week of the fight, where I’m at each day weight wise and what exercise, other things I need to do to make weight. This will come into its own more so the two weeks leading up to the fight as that is when the real weight cut kicks in.

Another thing I get asked a lot is “Why even cut weight anyway?”. In theory if I walk around at 90kg why not fight at that weight? I’d cut out all the hassle of being drained, of having to watch what I eat, of stressing leading up to the fight. The short answer is everybody cuts weight and if you don’t you’re going to end up fighting a guy way bigger than you. And when people way bigger than you catch you clean it usually hurts a lot more, so its not something I’ll be looking into for the next while. While I weigh-in at 79.9kg before the fight I refuel, rehydrate and eat lots meaning I actually come into the ring around 4–5kg heavier than that.

Trying to get to the shop before it closes

I’m a professional boxer, a lot of my friends are professionals also — lawyers, teachers, anything really. The one main difference between what I do and what they do? For me it is having a concrete date in your mind, in your thought process, and there being no life after that date. What do I mean? Lets take my last fight again — the fight was on June 25th, 2017. I got the fight date on April 10th, 2017. For those two and a half months I couldn’t think past June 25th. If someone in my family mentioned an event, a birthday, a holiday etc that was taking place after that date it wouldn’t resonate with me. I had the fight and then life would begin again after that, but not until the fight was over. I had tickets booked to see my father Phil Collins in the Aviva on June 26th, the day after the fight. Any time I’d think of it I’d also wonder what mood I’d be in from the night before — would it be the continuing of celebrations or would I be there regretting things I’d done in the ring 24 hours previously. Its a hard way to live — seeing a date in a calendar but not being able to see beyond it, but sacrifice and reward are both high and I wouldn’t change it for nothing.

My Week

Stephen O’Rourke is my Head Coach in St. Michael’s Boxing Club in Inchicore — this is our first time preparing for a fight together and I’m loving it so far. I was never an amateur boxer — I’m like a kid in college who never went to primary or secondary school. Stephen wants to teach me how to be an amateur, he wants to strip me down completely and rebuild me as a fighter, teach me the things you learn as an amateur that become fundamentally important in the pro-game.

Monday & Tuesday

I’m a brash boxer, in your face, fight close and swing big and wild punches. Stephen wants to add that finesse to my game, a style that will allow me fight at mid-range and longer range. Monday and Tuesday were dedicated to that — working on styles, working on fundamentals and techniques.

Wednesday

Wednesday was sparring, 10 rounds in total. I sparred 6 rounds with Irish Elite Boxer Tony Browne. Tony is an excellent light-heavyweight, and a great test for me to try and figure him out. This was directly followed by 4 rounds with Paddy Nevin, an Irish amateur heavyweight — fighting a guy like Paddy allows me to test myself against bigger guys, see if I can take his power and see if mine affects him.

Thursday

Roadwork & conditioning — running, running, running — if it was my job I still wouldn’t love it, but I got to do it. Conditioning can be fun, but gruelling also.

Everyday

I happened to mention in an interview a few years back that I sparred a few times with Conor McGregor in Celtic Warrior Gym in Blanch. This fact has shot to prominence over the past few weeks as the real analysis of Saturday’s fight has begun. I’ve been on radio, podcasts, in newspapers — all I can talk about is what I’ve done and seen in the ring, looking forward to Saturday night now to see how Conor goes.

So that’s my week — a busy one, and four days in a warehouse to top it off. But it won’t always be like this, I visualise a near-future where its just boxing that I spend my days doing, no other job, no financial difficulties. I’ll start putting that vision into practice on September 16th. I’m getting closer to fighting again and now is when it gets exciting — I’ve to pick an entrance song, design for my shorts, fight t-shirt — all very small things, but things that let you know the fight is around the corner. I’m going to do the business on September 16th, but until then September 17th doesn’t exist.

Questions? I’m on twitter Steve Collins Jr, Instagram here or email me at SteveCollinsJrBoxing@gmail.com. See you next week!

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Steve Collins Jr

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Professional Head Puncher - #TeamWolfHound - Follow the Journey. For enquiries: SteveCollinsJrBoxing@gmail.com

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