Nobody told Steve Collins that his pursuit of a dream would make him a millionaire or that he would face a tearful breakdown in the Dublin High Court with his fortune at stake. Nor did anyone who watched the raw amateur beat ordinary opponents in the National Stadium on the South Circular Road ever think that they were watching the boy who was to become the most successful Irish boxer ever.
Collins now awaits the verdict which could force him out of retirement if it goes against him or allow him to pursue his new dream of helping young people travel the road he has followed. After a less than glittering career as an amateur, Collins moved to Boston where, as an illegal immigrant, he worked as an electrician by day and spent all his time in a boxing gymnasium in Brockton, where boxing legends such as Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler had made their preparations for the fights which grabbed the attention of the sporting world.
Collins's professional career began in October of 1986 with a third-round knock-out of Julio Mercado and ended with his stoppage of Craig Cummins in Glasgow last July. That had been his 39th professional fight. He had defended world titles successfully on nine occasions, had lost only three bouts and had scored 20 of his 39 victories inside the stipulated distance.
But it was the fights against Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn in 1995 and 1996 which really captured the imagination of the boxing public in Ireland and Britain. His victory over Eubank in their first meeting in Millstreet in Cork in March of 1995 and in Pairc Ui Chaoimh the following September were the bouts which astonished boxing followers.
The affable Dubliner must now wait for the verdict of a High Court in whose hands it is to decide whether or not his dream will end in a nightmare.