On what was the biggest night of his career thus far, Scotland’s Nathaniel Collins suffered a heartbreaking defeat as he lost a split decision on points to Cristobal Lorente of Spain.
In their world title eliminator rematch at The Hydro in Glasgow, it was Lorente who was much the sharper of the two fighters and he was a deserving victor in the end.
He will now advance to become the official mandatory challenger for the WBC world featherweight title, with a fight against champion Bruce Carrington in New York likely to be next on the agenda.
That could have been the prize for Collins, who had been strongly fancied to put on a show in front of his home crowd as he headlined a main event at a venue of this size for the first time in his career.
But the Bearsden man was left to rue a huge missed opportunity. A night of frustration saw him outboxed as the chance to tee up a world title shot went up in smoke.
It will now be back to the drawing board. Given that Collins had been viewed as the next cab off the rank in the post-Josh Taylor era, fresh questions will be asked of where Scottish boxing goes next.
Cristobal Lorente proved too strong for Collins and deservedly moves on to a world title shot
This was a hugely underwhelming affair, both in and out of the ring. One of the main talking points on the night centred around how one judge had managed to score the bout 116-111 in Collins’ favour.
That was an utterly ludicrous assessment. The other two cards scored it 115-112 in favour of Lorente, a much more accurate view on how the fight panned out.
It was Collins who scored the only knockdown of the fight, which came in the sixth round, but there was no doubt he had been outworked and outclassed over the 12 rounds.
Having fought Lorente for the first time at the Braehead Arena last October, the fact Collins was now headlining The Hydro was intended as another step on his path to becoming a superstar. But it was not a sell-out. Far from it, in fact. The top tier of the arena was closed, which did make it feel slightly like more of a PR stunt, rather than just having the rematch back at Braehead.
None of that was of any concern to the 29-year-old Scot, of course, as he made his way out to the ring. Collins made his ring-walk to a soundtrack of Canter by Gerry Cinnamon — and, as always, wore his customary ‘nightmare’ mask.
In the build-up, Collins admitted that he had allowed his ‘heart to control his head’ in that first bout with regards to his tactical approach.
Despite a bright start, Collins quickly began to realise this fight wasn’t going his way
He had started like a steam train and dominated Lorente in the early rounds, before essentially punching himself out and running out of gas barely midway through the fight.
He was much more cautious over the opening two rounds last night. Beyond a couple of jabs and straights from both fighters, quality punches landed were few and far between.
It was cagey. Lorente proved in that first fight that he is a gritty, awkward customer with a tremendous chin. For that reason alone, he commanded respect.
Collins finally started to let his hands go in round four, with a couple of crisp left hands snapping back the head of his Spanish opponent.
However, it was Lorente who was the busier of the two fighters and it was also notable that he was often commanding the centre of the ring, pushing forward and cornering Collins.
But his propensity to push forward would land him in trouble as the fight finally burst into life in round six, with a right hand from Collins landing flush on its target on Lorente’s cheek.
Collins was viewed as Scotland’s brightest hope since Josh Taylor but will now have to regroup
It wasn’t the most powerful shot by any means, but it was clean and accurate, and it forced the Catalonian to take a knee as the home favourite scored the first knockdown.
The response from Lorente was mightily impressive, though, as he unleashed a flurry of punches that had Collins clinging on towards the end of the round.
Even despite the knockdown, it was not a traditional 10-8 round for the Scot. Perhaps 10-9 given the manner in which his opponent had come roaring back.
Collins just could not find any rhythm or momentum. Lorente was too slick, too aggressive, once again troubling the Scot with some lovely combinations in round eight.
The atmosphere had been horribly flat for much of the contest. It was only when the crowd realised Collins could be in serious trouble in round nine that they finally found their voice.
Lorente can now prepare for a likely trip to New York to take on American Bruce Carrington
By the time we reached the final round, the consensus among most ringside observers was that Collins would need a knockout. Lorente was ahead by at least a couple of rounds.
You sensed that Collins knew it, too, given the way he came out swinging. He landed a couple of meaty left hands on Lorente’s chin, but still the gutsy Spaniard came forward and responded.
It had been a quality performance from the man in the red trunks. He improved significantly from the first fight, something with which Collins never came to terms.
The Scot could yet regroup and come again. But the pain and disappointment of losing his shot at a world title will take some time to subside.
