Boxing is, surely, the hardest game. Inside the ring only three people, two contestants and a referee; outside the masses, many of whom pay huge sums of money yet know shockingly little about the sport.

For the much-hyped Mike TysonFrank Bruno fight in Las Vegas, myself and another journalist, former British champion boxer Dickie Curry from Scotland, had to battle bureaucracy to gain a seat in the stadium. When we eventually took our seats we found ourselves behind a young couple dressed to the nines. The young man was explaining to his beautiful companion that the rounds lasted three minutes and that if one of the boxers was knocked over would not be allowed to continue if he did not get up on his feet before the count of 10.

A considerable number of dollars had been handed over, it seemed!

What I am coming to is the case of Steve Collins, and what I have to say is this: no better or more decent young man have I met. Nor, indeed, a better or more successful Irish boxer of any era in either the amateur or professional game.

He is now at a highly significant watershed in his life. Last Monday he collapsed - "blacked out" in his own words - in a sparring session in a London gym. He has spoken of persistent headaches both before and since that sparring session.

Steve Collins owes nothing to anybody either inside or outside boxing. Within boxing, about which this writer knows a little, he has earned and responded to the affection and respect of those of us who try to understand the game. He has conferred respect and dignity on the sport over a period of some 15 years or more. He has been a great ambassador for Ireland and is not the only boxer of whom that can be said. Steeped in the lore of boxing from his father and mother, Pascal and Collette (nee O'Rourke), he represented this country at amateur and professional level with distinction.

From a personal point of view I never felt so proud of him as when he went the 12 rounds with the Jamaican, Mike McCallum, the best "pound-for-pound" fighter in the world, in Boston even before he became champion.

When he did become champion he never forgot from where he came from nor from whom he received his inspiration. He represented his country with distinction both inside and outside the ring.

He had to co-operate with certain publicity scams, most notably the one in Millstreet when he had a hypnotist in his camp. By and large he served Ireland and Irish boxing with distinction and gave boxing enthusiasts enormous pride and pleasure.

This is not an obituary. Steve Collins is a mere stripling of 34. He, possibly, has another 50 or more years ahead of him, yet he still hankers after that one other fight, that one more road to cross, that last throw of the dice!

At Dublin Airport on Thursday he put a brave face on the difficulties which have beset him.

Typically he refused to stay down or to roll over. He had paid very few visits to the canvas during his career as a boxer and it would have been uncharacteristic for him to respond any other way.

Steve is a fighter but he must come to the realisation that his career as a fighter is at an end. By all accounts he is not short of a few bob. What is more valuable to him and his wife and children, and indeed his friends, however, is his health.

He will find it difficult to carve our a new career for himself from a starting point of 34. That is an age when most of population would be looking forward to promotion in a commercial concern, a bank or even a newspaper!

He owes himself a period of reflection. He has worked and succeeded in the hardest game. He hankers after a big day in the United States and a clash with Roy Jones. He has earned that but he can reflect on that fact that Jones backed away - twice.

There are other mountains to climb; other challenges to be faced. Steve Collins has decorated sport in Ireland with great style and dignity. He must now put his considerable talents to use in other areas where young people gather. There are challenges out there which are worthy of his single-minded approach.

He comes from a Dublin workingclass background, a strata where many young people are crying out for help and inspiration. Steve Collins is a perfect role model for these young people. When we talk of the Celtic Tiger we can also refer to the Celtic Warrior. There is no more convincing or acceptable young man than Steve Collins to be sent to help young people escape from petty crime, drugs, unemployment and homelessness.

Come on Bertie! Men like Steve Collins have contributed enormously to the present wave of prosperity in this country. Sport and recreation has never had a higher profile in the country that it has now. Surely we can find a way to acknowledge the debt we owe to Steve Collins and many others like him. We have problems on the streets of our cities and towns. Young men like Steve Collins can be part of the solution to these problems.

Like many others who made careers in sport he is finding it difficult to turn away from what has been the centre of his life for so long. By all accounts the Celtic Tiger is still growling. Surely we need to look at what our inspirational sports heroes have contributed to that?