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Steve Collins, a former super middleweight titlist who hasn't fought since 1997 and will turn 49 in July of this year, is hoping to be cleared for a one-off return fight against press rival Roy Jones Jr later this year.
Collins retired with a record of 36-3 (21 KO), and says that Jones, 43, has spoken to him about the idea:
"It's not a comeback as such, at my age I'm too old for that, but it will be the end of a 15-year grudge," said Collins. "I spoke to Roy and we're going to get it on. He wants one more fight before he retires and this is the one he wants."
Jones (56-8, 40 KO) mentioned the idea seemingly out of nowhere in an interview during Pacquiao-Marquez IV week in early December:
"I'm at the end of my road, I've got about a year left and I'm done, but just yesterday, old Steve Collins said he would come out of retirement to fight me. And called me a bad, dirty name. Why would you call me a name when I was trying to fight the likes of Holyfield, Mike Tyson, the Klitschkos? I tried to fight everybody. I'm ducking you? I ducked you in my prime, are you serious? I won't duck you now. He's trying to say, 'Oh, Roy ducked me.' (laughing) What Roy was he watching?"
Collins was a hell of a fighter in his day, a time that has obviously passed, and while Jones is absolutely shot to bits himself, he has been fighting the entire time that Collins has been retired. In fact, for the first six years of Collins' retirement, Jones was still a top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. As long as it's been since Roy was at his peak, it's been much longer since Collins was even in a ring.
Personally, I think this is a ridiculous idea, but it's just one of many we get all the time. If Collins can pass a physical, and Jones can pass a physical, it could happen. It would seem like the money to do it won't be there, maybe, but Jones hasn't been getting paid much to fight for a few years now, and I'm sure there's some city out there, maybe Belfast or Dublin, where the fight could sell a few tickets.