Ringmaster who makes dreams become reality
Dubliner from famous sporting family keeps on punching above his weight
ON A squally afternoon in Blanchardstown, neighbours meet in the local supermarket, moaning about the weather and reflecting on Martin O’Neill’s departure as Republic of Ireland manager. This place is typical of any small suburban shopping centre. A supermarket, pharmacy, chipper, bookies and a pub. But it also has something a lot less obvious.
Above the shop, dreams of glory are being cultivated. The Celtic Warriors Gym has been hidden in Corduff for a while now. ‘I think we have been here six years,’ Packie Collins says in a quiet corner as young fighters wrap their hands in preparation for another day of hard work.
The gym is named for his older brother Steve, the former world champion, and it’s what you would expect of a place hoping to manufacture champions. Two rings sit side by side. The floor is a maze of punching bags, weights are stacked in a corner and it is decorated with moments of sporting history.
Glossy images of Steve Collins and ‘Marvellous’ Marvin Hagler.
Golden Boy promotions have given Collins assurances that O’Sullivan remains part of their plans at light-middleweight. There is no Canelo on the horizon, but there will be a world title shot and that is what everyone here is dreaming of.
Collins grew up in Cabra, the youngest of four boys. One of his older brothers became the middleweight champion of the world. Another became a professional footballer and later a League of Ireland-winning manager. Standards were high and boxing was in their blood.
The sport was on both sides of the family. Their father, Paschal, and uncle Terry both boxed (‘Terry actually fought Reggie Kray once,’ Collins says), while on their mother’s side, their uncle Jack O’Rourke won 27 national titles. When George Foreman won heavyweight gold at the Mexico Olympics, O’Rourke had beaten both Foreman’s semi-final and final opponents in the previous year. A shipping engineer, O’Rourke had been at sea when the call came for the Irish team and missed out on the Olympics. When their father died suddenly in the mid-1980s, Steve brought a young Packie to Boston, where his older brother had re-located in his pursuit of a world title. As a wide-eyed teenager, Collins watched Hagler, a sporting god at the time, train in Petronelli’s gym alongside his brother. ‘I lived there with Steve for a couple of years, came home, did an electrician apprenticeship, but knew I wanted to go back to Brockton and become a fighter. So, six months after doing my time, I handed in my notice and went back to America. That was around ’93.
‘I came back here around 2011. I was in America 18 years. Both myself and my wife ended up getting citizenship. I love going back there, I go back there five or six times a year. Most of my fighters would fight over on the east coast, but I don’t want to go back living there,’ Collins said.
‘I got my education out there. I got what I wanted out of it, but I love being home with family and friends. When I came home, the idea was to train Irish fighters in that American style, the style of Petronelli’s gym. And what I didn’t achieve myself as a fighter, I want to do now as a trainer.’
Collins made his professional debut in December 1994, on the final boxing card at the old Boston Garden. ‘My bout was the swing bout, so we went on after the main event. So, I fought in the last bout ever at the old Garden,’ he proclaims with a hint of pride.
In the mid-1990s, as Steve went to war with Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, his younger brother was a constant presence in camp. It’s how he got to know Freddie Roach, a firm friendship that persists to this day.
‘I first met Freddie when Steve was in camp for the first Eubank fight. We were staying in Jersey, in this guest house owned by a Dublin man. And when we weren’t training, we were just hanging out together.’
Collins had a decent record as a super-middleweight. Just two defeats and a draw in his 16 pro bouts. But when a cut forced him to withdraw from the undercard of a John Duddy main event in Boston around 2004, his life suddenly veered in a different direction.
His friend Kevin McBride was also involved in the card and asked Collins to train him for the fight. The big Clones man won and was then offered the opportunity to fight Mike Tyson.
‘I had never wanted to be a trainer. I was boxing at the time, but Kevin wanted me to train him for his fight and then when he got the Tyson fight, he asked me to stay on as his trainer. It was almost by default.’
The friends booked into a hotel room together beside the Brockton gym for eight weeks. They lived in each other’s shadow, never out of each other’s sight. And they obsessed about ways to beat Tyson.
‘I’d order all his food, all his supplements, bring him out on runs. Did his training plans. I made
these DVDS of how Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield beat Tyson and I would make Kevin watch them, over and over again. We went through the routines. Did this for eight weeks. It nearly killed me,’ Collins chuckles. ‘And then Kevin beat Mike Tyson.’
Collins still wasn’t convinced by the idea of being a trainer, but word got around of the Irishman who helped McBride beat Tyson. He was getting calls. People were looking for his help.
‘I had built my own business in America in construction and was making good money from it. The Tyson fight came along and I thought it was a challenge. After we won it, I thought maybe this was a way of making money without getting hit in the face.’
In February 2008, a young Cork fighter called Spike O’Sullivan approached him. ‘We have been together ever since,’ Collins says.
He has gone back to school to improve his methods. Goody Patronelli always used to preach that 95 per cent of a fight took place in the head and Collins never forgot that.
‘I’m interested in how the mind works and being a fighter myself, how the mind works in the ring, so I did a diploma in sports psychology. I enjoy doing it. I enjoy training fighters. The moment I stop enjoying it, I won’t do it anymore.’
Niall Kennedy, the Garda from Gorey, has been Collins’ success story of 2018. Kennedy isn’t on the bill in Castlebar but the pride is evident in his words when he talks about the progress that the heavyweight has made — he currently holds the North American title and has sparred Anthony Joshua in the past.
‘At the start, Niall doubted himself so much. He didn’t believe in himself. So, we started training his mind and he improved. And what we have now is this great opportunity with a heavyweight, which we can’t rush.
‘If Niall keeps taking the right fights and keeps learning, he has the ability to fight for a world title. I really believe that. Niall’s a work-in-progress but he’s a hard worker. He will be back in the ring in February and we will continue to build.’
And that is what Packie Collins will continue to do in this hidden corner of a suburban shopping centre. Cultivating dreams for his fighters and making them believe.