Benn not out of reach

STEVE COLLINS was greatly relieved yesterday to hear that Nigel Benn is going to reconsider his Saturday night decision to resign. After losing to "Sugar Boy" Malinga on points in Newcastle on Tyne, Benn immediately announced his retirement and then, in an emotional moment, publicly proposed to his girlfriend.

Bean was in a less emotional mood on Sunday and said that he and his girlfriend were going on holiday and that he would reconsider his decision.

Collins immediately welcomed the decision from his training camp in the Channel Islands. "I was looking forward to fighting Bean some time next May in a bid to unify the WBO and WBC super middleweight title. I was looking on that fight as my pension and I was disappointed when he said he would retire.

"The Nigel who boxed on Saturday night wasn't the Nigel we all know," said Collins yesterday. "He didn't seem as hungry. He didn't seem to have the same determination to win. The old Nigel would have stepped it up when he knew he was losing ground but he didn't do that.

"Malinga was definitely the best fighter on the night and you can't take that away from him. Nigel looked as though his heart wasn't in it. In the heat of the moment after the fight he probably felt it was all over for him but I'm sure that when he woke up on Sunday morning he felt differently.

"I still want to meet him but I can assure him that he is not taking my title as compensation and neither is Neville Brown. I will consider taking on Malinga after I have beaten Brown and Bean," he added.

Collins meets Brown in the Green Glens Arena, Millstreet, to defend his WBO title next Saturday night.

Yesterday Bean confirmed what Collins said about his state of mind of Saturday night last. "I realise that it was not the real me in the ring. I was too complacent. I thought it would be an easy fight. My training camp in Tenerife was like a circus. I just didn't have the fear factor in the ring and I need that to be at my best. I will think it over on my holiday and I'll make an announcement when I get back," he said.

The Bean resignation and announcement that he was going to reconsider his situation has swept aside what should be a very worrying aspect of the fight from the official point of view - the judging. Few at the ringside or those watching on television had any doubts about the verdict. Two judges confirmed this impression in different ways. One scored it as one sided as 118-109 and another much closer at 115 to 111.

Amazingly, however, the US judge scored it against Malinga, 114 to 112. This meant that there was an 11-point margin between him, and one of the other judges which is almost unbelievable.

But this is by far from being the first time that this has happened.