Resto Cornered in New York

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Irish Voice Sport

Resto Cornered in New York

April 9, 2008

By Declan O’Kelly

Declan O’Kelly FORMER professional welterweight boxer Luis Resto owned up to fighting against “Irish” Billy Collins Junior with tampered gloves in their fight at Madison Square Garden on June 16 1983 at a press conference at Jack Demseys in midtown last Thursday.

The Bronx native, now 47, admitted to press that not only did he fight with gloves that had their padding removed, but that his hands were also cast in tape that was soaked in plaster of Paris.

The gruesome fight that Resto won by unanimous decision after 10 rounds saw Collins absorb tremendous facial damage that resulted in permanently blurred vision due to a torn iris and a decimated career. Collins, who was from Tennessee and had a 14-0 record going into the Resto fight, died nine months later in a car accident.

The fight and its aftermath is the subject of a documentary called Cornered, which will be shown at the Nashville Film Festival later this month. Director Eric Drath was with Resto at Demseys.

In the documentary, Resto apologizes to Collins’ widow, Andrea Collins-Nile, who was on conference call during the press conference.

Collins’ trainer and father, Billy Senior, sensed there was something amiss when he felt Resto’s gloves after the fight and furiously looked for an inquiry into the matter. An investigation found that Resto’s trainer Panama Lewis cut a hole in each of the gloves and removed the padding.

Both Resto and Lewis were jailed for the incident and Resto got a lifetime ban from boxing. The result of the fight was changed to a “no contest.”

Until last week Resto had never openly admitted to any wrongdoing. Asked if that was the only time he used tampered gloves, Resto said he had done it a few times, but only with Lewis.
When asked if she could forgive Resto, Collins’ widow said, “I am not the judge of Luis Resto, but the commission was negligent and did not protect my husband.”

Collins-Nile’s lawyer has filed a motion for the Collins-Resto case to be reopened in Federal District Court against the state of New York.

For more information on this tragic chapter in boxing and information about the documentary visit www.corneredthemovie.com.

In other news, Bernard Dunne (24-1, 14 KOs) will return to the ring this weekend in Mayo against former world champion Felix Machado (25-7-1, 12 KOs). It will be the Dubliner’s first fight since getting knocked out by Kiko Martinez last August.

Machado was IBF super flyweight champion from 2000-2003 and has fought eight world titles fights at super flyweight and bantamweight. The 35-year-old southpaw has lost four of his last six, but he has quality and will provide Dunne with a stern test. The fight will stream live worldwide on www.rte.ie this Saturday.

Irish amateur welterweight champion Roy Sheahan has lost his fitness battle and will not travel to Athens with the nine man Irish squad for the last chance to qualify for the Olympic games. The Donegal man injured his hand before the last qualifying tournament and has not recovered.
The Athens tournament, which started on Monday and continues until April 24, is the last chance for Irish boxers to join light flyweight Paddy Barnes and bantamweight John Joe Nevin on the plane to Beijing.

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