View source for Billy Collins Jr.

{{short description|American boxer (1961–1984)}}
{{other people||William Collins (disambiguation){{!}}William Collins}}
{{other people|Bill Collins}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox Boxer
| name = Billy Collins Jr.
| realname = William Ray Collins Jr.
| nickname = Irish
| height = 
| reach = 68.5 in <ref>https://boxrec.com/en/box-pro/23266 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref>
| weight = [[Welterweight]]<br />[[Light middleweight]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1961|9|21}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1984|3|6|1961|9|21}}
| birth_place = [[Nashville, Tennessee]], U.S.
| death_place = [[Antioch, Tennessee]], U.S.
| style = [[Orthodox stance|Orthodox]]
| total = 15
| wins = 14
| KO = 11
| no contests = 1
}}

'''William Ray Collins Jr.''' (September 21, 1961 – March 6, 1984) was an American [[professional boxer]] who competed from 1981 to 1983. He was undefeated before his career was cut short after his final fight when he sustained serious injuries against [[Luis Resto (boxer)|Luis Resto]] in their ten-round bout. Aided by his trainer [[Panama Lewis]], Resto used illegal, tampered [[boxing glove|gloves]] with an ounce of the gloves' cushioning removed, along with hand wraps that had been soaked in [[plaster of Paris]].<ref name="ESPN">{{Cite web|url=http://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3329115|title=Resto: Wraps were doctored with plaster in fight vs. Collins|date=April 4, 1998|work=ESPN|access-date=August 18, 2018}}</ref>

==Early life==
Billy Collins was born to a working class [[Irish people|Irish]] family in [[Antioch, Tennessee]]. His father and manager, Billy Collins Sr. (1937{{ndash}}2018) was a [[welterweight]] professional boxer during the late 1950s and early 1960s who won 38 of his 56 professional fights. Collins Jr. followed his father's footsteps and started training with him since a very young age. Also a welterweight, Collins won his first 14 fights as a professional, among them a decision over future world title challenger [[Harold Brazier]].

===Luis Resto fight===
Collins was matched against Puerto Rican journeyman [[Luis Resto (boxer)|Luis Resto]] at [[Madison Square Garden]] in New York on June 16, 1983, on the undercard of the [[Roberto Durán]] vs. [[Davey Moore (1980s)|Davey Moore]] light middleweight title fight. Collins entered the fight as a betting favorite but took a heavy beating for almost the whole fight and lost by a [[unanimous decision]].

At the end of the fight, Collins' father, who was also his trainer, noticed that Resto's [[boxing gloves|gloves]] felt thinner than normal and demanded that they be impounded.<ref name="SI">{{Cite magazine|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1998/10/26/bare-knuckles-the-night-billy-collins-fought-luis-resto-something-was-terribly-wrong-with-restos-gloves-the-beating-collins-took-cost-him-his-careerand-maybe-his-life|title=Bare Knuckles|last=Pearlman|first=Jeff|date=October 26, 1998|magazine=Sports Illustrated|access-date=2025-05-26}}</ref> A subsequent investigation by the [[New York State Boxing Commission]] concluded that Resto's trainer, [[Panama Lewis]], had removed an ounce of padding from each glove, making his punches harder and more damaging to Collins. The fight result was changed to a [[no contest (combat sports)|no contest]].

Lewis' New York boxing license was permanently revoked, effectively banning him from any official role in American boxing for life. Resto was suspended indefinitely and never fought again. In 1986, Lewis and Resto were tried and convicted of assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a deadly weapon (Resto's plaster of paris wraps); prosecutors felt that Lewis' actions made the fight an illegal assault on Collins. Both served two and a half years in prison.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sportsmirchi.com/luis-resto-vs-billy-collins-jr-1983-fight-resulted-no-contest/ | title=Luis Resto vs Billy Collins Jr. 1983 fight resulted no-contest | date=July 26, 2015 | publisher=Sports Mirchi }}</ref>

==Injuries and auto accident==
In the Resto fight, Collins' eyes were swollen shut. He suffered a torn [[Iris (anatomy)|iris]] and permanently blurred vision, which left him unable to box again.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbtoUK2vPcM|title=Worst Cheater In Boxing Ever!!!|date=2018-11-30|website=YouTube|type=MMA TV Documentary, source referenced at timestamp 9:10.}}</ref>

On March 6, 1984, Collins was killed when the car in which he and his best friend were driving crashed into a culvert near his home in [[Antioch, Tennessee]], a suburb of [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]]. The autopsy showed he died a short time later at the scene of the accident. According to an account in [[Sports Illustrated]], the crash was intentional.<ref name="SI"/>

==Legal action==
In July 1983, Collins and his family sued Lewis, Resto, fight promoter [[Top Rank Boxing]], the inspectors, the bout's referee and [[Everlast (brand)|Everlast]] (the manufacturer of Resto's gloves) for gross negligence and loss of income.  The suit against Everlast was dismissed by the Federal Court which found that there was no liability since the gloves had been tampered with after they were delivered by Everlast. Collins, Sr. and Collins' widow Andrea then sued the New York State Boxing Commission for failing to protect Collins.  The commission argued that the term "inspection" was so broad that there was no way to determine whether the fight's inspectors could have done more than they did.  It also claimed that Top Rank actually hired the inspectors and bore more responsibility for their behavior.  A court ruled in favor of the commission, and the court also noted that Collins' death ended any potential future damages.<ref name="SI"/>  However, Collins' widow, now known as Andrea Collins-Nile, attempted to reopen the suit. The request was denied.  The state subsequently changed its rules to prevent a repeat of what happened to Collins. The Collins family never saw any compensation.

==Further revelations by Resto==
In 2007, Resto made a tearful apology to Collins-Nile for his role in the scheme unexpectedly during the making of a Showtime documentary about the fight.  He also admitted that his [[hand wraps]] had been soaked in [[plaster of Paris]] before the fight. This caused them to harden into [[orthopedic cast|plaster casts]] like those used to set broken bones.  The hand wraps were never confiscated and did not figure into the official investigation of the tampering incident.  However, the combined effect of the plaster casts and unpadded gloves meant that Resto was effectively striking Collins with rocks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/SPORTS11/804040397/1002/SPORTS|title=After 25 years, boxer admits tampering|work=The Tennessean}}</ref>  At a 2008 press conference, Resto not only admitted to knowing that Lewis had tampered with the gloves, but had done so at least twice before.<ref>Mladnich, Robert.  [http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/5801/resto-comes-clean-knew-gloves-were-loaded/ Resto Comes Clean:  He Knew Gloves Were Loaded] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415141819/http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/5801/resto-comes-clean-knew-gloves-were-loaded/ |date=April 15, 2008 }}.  ''The Sweet Science'', 2008-04-06.</ref> The 1983 incident and subsequent aftermath is covered in the 2008 [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] documentary ''[[Assault in the Ring]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hbo.com/events/assaultinthering/index.html|title=HBO: Assault in the Ring|work=hbo.com|date=July 18, 2009|accessdate=July 18, 2009}}</ref>

==Professional boxing record==
{{BoxingRecordSummary
|nc=1
|ko-wins=11
|dec-wins=3
}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!{{abbr|No.|Number}}
!Result
!Record
!Opponent
!Type
!Round, time
!Date
!Location
!Notes
|-
|15
|style="background:#DDD"|{{abbr|NC|No contest}}
|14–0 {{small|(1)}}
|style="text-align:left;"|[[Luis Resto (boxer)|Luis Resto]]
|UD
|10
|[[Davey Moore vs. Roberto Durán|Jun 16, 1983]]
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[Madison Square Garden]], [[New York City, New York]], U.S.}}
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Originally UD win for Resto, later ruled NC after he used tampered gloves and handwraps}}
|-
|14
|{{yes2}}Win
|14–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Fernando Fernandez
|KO
|6 (10), {{small|2:50}}
|May 5, 1983
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[Bristol, Tennessee]], U.S.}}
|
|-
|13
|{{yes2}}Win
|13–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Steve Johnson
|KO
|1 (12), {{small|2:15}}
|Mar 16, 1983
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[Castaways Hotel and Casino]], Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Won [[ESPN]] [[junior middleweight]] title}}
|-
|12
|{{yes2}}Win
|12–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Dennis Horne
|{{abbr|UD|Unanimous decision}}
|10
|Jan 20, 1983
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|11
|{{yes2}}Win
|11–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Ricky Whitt
|KO
|4 (10), {{small|2:48}}
|Oct 17, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[The Claridge Hotel (Atlantic City)|The Claridge Hotel]], Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|10
|{{yes2}}Win
|10–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Eddie Flanning
|TKO
|3 (10), {{small|2:21}}
|Sep 30, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|{{USS|Yorktown|CV-10}}, [[Charleston, South Carolina]], U.S.}}
|
|-
|9
|{{yes2}}Win
|9–0
|style="text-align:left;"|[[Harold Brazier]]
|{{abbr|MD|Majority decision}}
|6
|Sep 11, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|8
|{{yes2}}Win
|8–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Mike Pollitt
|KO
|3 (6)
|Aug 4, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|7
|{{yes2}}Win
|7–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Roosevelt Moss
|KO
|1 (6), {{small|1:59}}
|Jul 17, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[Bally's Park Place]], Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|6
|{{yes2}}Win
|6–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Jose Fuentes
|{{abbr|TKO|Technical knockout}}
|3 (6)
|Jun 23, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|5
|{{yes2}}Win
|5–0
|style="text-align:left;"|[[Bruce Strauss]]
|KO
|3 (6)
|May 20, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|4
|{{yes2}}Win
|4–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Tony Taylor
|{{abbr|UD|Unanimous decision}}
|6
|Mar 17, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|3
|{{yes2}}Win
|3–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Keith Corbett
|KO
|6 (6)
|Feb 4, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Sands, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.}}
|
|-
|2
|{{yes2}}Win
|2–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Gary Baker
|KO
|2 (4)
|Jan 19, 1982
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S.}}
|
|-
|1
|{{yes2}}Win
|1–0
|style="text-align:left;"|Kevin Griffin
|{{abbr|KO|Knockout}}
|3 (4), {{small|2:48}}
|Dec 2, 1981
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|[[Sands Atlantic City|Sands]], [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]], U.S.}}
|
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Boxrec|id=23266}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090621223916/http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=15195&more=1 Luis Resto vs. Billy Collins Jr. (1983) – A Retrospective Ring Report] at eastsideboxing.com (archived)
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEVdywAtk50 Collins vs. Resto (full fight)] on [[YouTube]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Billy}}
[[Category:1961 births]]
[[Category:1984 suicides]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:Light-middleweight boxers]]
[[Category:American male boxers]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Antioch, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Davidson County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Burials at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Nashville, Tennessee)]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]