‘Only Chris Eubank believed that hypnotism nonsense’: Steve Collins’ famous Millstreet victory revisited
Andrew Gallimore and Lydia Monin’s documentary film about the celebrated boxing match captures both the Celtic Tiger’s swagger and the blarney that would knock it out
One Night In Millstreet Official Trailer
Boxing is not quite as popular as it once was. Being struck repeatedly in the head is apparently not all that good for a person, and while the amateur code is well regulated, a whiff of tawdriness has tended to cling to professional boxing, courtesy of dodgy promoters, pre-fight theatrics and a bewildering number of competing world title belts. At its best, though, it can still enthral: the sight of two pugilists going at each other hammer and tongs appeals to our primal instincts, and might be the closest thing we have to the bloody thrills of the Roman arena. And then there are the rags to riches stories, of fighters from humble backgrounds who rise to the top and must cope with the consequences.
There have been lots of great boxing pictures, from Rocky to Requiem for a Heavyweight, but some of the best have been documentaries. When We Were Kings charted the epic encounter between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire in the 1970s, while The Thrilla in Manila explored the altogether less savoury slugging match between Ali and Joe Frazier.
