Savaging reputations

Who wants to see Steve Collins fight a burned-out Chris Eubank for a third time? Not only do we understand that Eubank has financial problems which have forced him back into the ring, but we also know that he has taken two of the worst hidings of his career in his most recent fights against Carl Thompson.

Collins's purported return to the ring is, however, as sadly predictable as the litany of crackpot comebacks in boxing that have now become the norm. While his decision to quit rang hollow 10 months ago, he has at least lasted 10 months before proposing a U-turn.

Eubank came out of retirement only to get beaten up, as did Joe Bugner - twice. George Foreman has famously offered his head as a punch bag to many wannabes, while Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes and even Mohammed Ali couldn't stay off the canvas after their shelflives had long expired.

There are too many boxers to list, but one thing comeback kids have in common is that despite the financial rewards they are seen as sad, sorry and strangely pathetic. While the nobility of boxing stems from the physical aspect of the sport, the

bravery and not least of all the danger, it is normally anything but pathetic. Comebacks lack everything except the element of danger. Eubank against Collins would be like Gary Glitter wobbling his way on to stage in six-inch platforms to sing a 1970's duet with Elton John and expect it to have immediacy and relevance.

Collins is 34 now and many people would flock to see him fight the Englishman, but only to watch the absurdly self-regarding fighter get badly beaten one more time. Perhaps the bone-cutting truth is that while it is the fighters who go into the ring, it is the people who promote such spectacles who are the more savage.