clarinews@clarinet.com (FREDERICK WATERMAN, UPI Sports Writer) (02/04/90)
BOSTON (UPI) -- Mike McCallum, combining a decade of experience with an early lead in points, retained his WBA middleweight crown Saturday with a 12-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Irish Steve Collins. McCallum, 33, was defending his title for the first time since winning the crown May 10 in an elimination bout against Herol Graham in London. The hard-hitting champion, now 37-1, has 31 career knockouts. Collins, in his first title fight, is now 16-1. Neither boxer suffered a knockdown. ``I wish I could do it again right now, I learned a few things ... he's a slick fighter,'' said Collins, who corrected the promoters' pre-fight publicity and said his age is 25, not 23. ``I think it was just experience on his part. In the second part (of the fight), I knew I was behind and I tried to get it back.'' The Jamaican was strongest in the early rounds. After getting the measure of Collins in the first round, McCallum pressed his deliberate attack for the next five rounds, building up points and Collins appeared on the verge of trouble several times. In the fourth round, Collins was cut above the corner of his left eye but McCallum was never able to exploit the injury. The champion said of the fighters' tactical battle, ``During the fight, me and him were playing chess games. I'd think I was going to outsmart him and he'd come back in the next round. I enjoyed it.'' Collins, an occasionally awkward fighter who lacks a powerful knockout punch, became the aggressor in the sixth round. McCallum's blows began to lose their sting, his footwork was no longer deft and his confidence visibly waned as Collins connected with combinations to the head and body. Asked about McCallum's slowness in the late rounds, his trainer Eddie Futch said, ``The pace that was set in this fight for 12 rounds would make anybody's legs flag towards the end. It wasn't due to age, it was due to the quality of the contest.'' McCallum, known as ``The Body Snatcher'' because of his fierce body punching, was going for Collins' head in the later rounds but had little success. McCallum described Collins as ``a winning fighter,'' whose style posed a problem. ``I couldn't adjust very easy because he's very awkward.'' Neither boxer was able to generate much power in the final rounds. McCallum, who kept his distance from Collins after the sixth round, closed in again during the ninth round and was aggressive through the 11th round. In the 12th, the champion knew he was ahead on points and backpedaled for most of the round. The judges' scorecards were corrected twice and finally showed a 117-111 margin by Charles Williams, 118-110 by Nicasio Drake and 117-111 by Lynne Carter. McCallum earned $300,000 and Collins' paycheck was $75,000. Collins, born in Dublin, was the overwhelming favorite of the more than 3,500 sellout crowd at Hynes Convention Center. The fight was originally planned for Ireland, but a lack of promotional money resulted in the switch to Boston, which has a large Irish community. McCallum was originally scheduled to fight Michael Watson in November, but Watson had to pull out after breaking his nose while sparring four days before the bout.