Forty years ago, on the undercard of Roberto Duran Vs. Davey Moore fights two men on opposite ends of their careers in Recent York in a ten-round welterweight fight. What happened next changed both men’s lives forever, and the events in the ring that night also changed boxing.

Billy Collins Jr., 21, was a 14-0 prospect who was expected to make the cut. Promoted by Bob Arum and trained by his father, former fighter Billy Collins Sr., the newborn Tennessee fighter was paired with a tough but not terribly unsafe fighter named Luis Resto. Resto, a 27-year-old Puerto Rican with a record of 19-8-2(8), would eventually become one of the most infamous fighters in all of boxing. The same could be said for the fight Resto “won.”

Trained by Panamanian Lewis Resto, to everyone’s surprise, defeated Collins Jr. Resto, not known as a particularly mighty hitter, moved into action that was usually aggressive and stimulating to watch Collins. Collins soon began to show severe facial damage, with both eyes rapidly swelling and his cheekbones and forehead also becoming gruesomely deformed by the end of the fight.

Collins really struggled, but he managed to stay tough until the final bell. It wasn’t until afterward, when people found out what had happened, that fans could truly appreciate just how tough Collins was. The two men met in the middle of the ring after the decision was announced, and as Resto went to pay his respects to Collins, Collins Sr. shook hands with the man who had just beaten his son and immediately noticed something was wrong – he could feel that Resto’s gloves were almost completely devoid of padding.

The trainer/father immediately raised the alarm bell and Resto did everything he could to get away, looking at his own trainer Lewis with desperation. There has indeed been significant tampering with the Resto gloves, resulting in approximately one ounce of padding being removed from each glove and, perhaps even worse, some Band-Aid placed on each Resto box. The beating of Collins Jr. is now seen by the world as simply the terrible thing it actually was. Resto denied any wrongdoing. Resto claimed it was all Panama’s fault. He was playing with Resto’s gloves without the warrior knowing.

Only he didn’t.

Years later, in 2009, when Eric Drath’s wonderful and moving documentary “Assault in the Ring” was released, Resto finally admitted that he knew about the gloves, the cast, and the drug that Panama gave him that helped him breathe during the fight, thus allowing him to get a second wind; Resto stating that the drug was given to asthma patients.

All of this was supposed to happen a few years earlier, and so far, both fighter and trainer have been paying the price. Panama was sentenced to a year in prison, Resto to two and a half, and both men had their driving licenses taken away. Resto would never fight again; Lewis would never be allowed to enter the ring as a trainer again. But for Collins Jr., it was much worse. Falling into depression, his career was torn away from him due to solemn facial injuries, the father and husband began drinking heavily, and by accident or on purpose, he crashed his car into a creek near his home, dying at the age of seven. It happened on March 6, 1984. Billy was only 22 years aged.

The events that took place at Madison Square Garden 40 years ago have never been forgotten and will never be forgotten. How could something like this be allowed to slip through the rules and regulations? How could such a heinous act of barbaric fraud have gone undetected? Panama, as we learned from Resto in Wrath, took care of his misbehavior in the locker room bathroom. Resto, who has shown and continues to show real remorse for what happened, has clearly suffered. Nevertheless, the hatred some people have for the former fighter remains unchanged.

Lewis, who died in September 2020, never showed remorse and never admitted to any crime. No obituaries were written after Lewis’ death.

The man’s life was nearly taken on the night of June 16, 1983, as a promising career in the ring was brutally cut miniature. Some firmly believe that Panama Lewis was the real bad guy behind the disgusting plan, while others claim that Resto was involved and equally guilty. Panama knew what he was sending his fighter to do, namely to inflict horrendous pain on another boxer through illegal violence, which he had to know about. While Resto certainly knew that he was fighting against a deck that was so stacked in his favor that he hit his opponent with gloves that were prepared.

Would Billy Collins Jr. have forgiven either man if his life hadn’t ended so prematurely and so tragically? We’ll never know. But there are plenty of people who will never forgive Lewis or Resto. And who can blame those people?

If a fan wants to create a list of the 10 best welterweight world title fights in history, chances are a state-of-the-art classic that took place on this day in 2000 would be included. Once-beaten superstar Oscar De La Hoya met undefeated “Sugar” Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the fight dubbed “Destiny” provided us with two electrifying performances full of speed, power and boxing.

Both were in their prime, De La Hoya was 26 years ancient, Mosley was 28. De La Hoya was 32-1(26) and the current WBC welterweight champion. Mosley was perfect with a record of 34-0 (32) and reigned as the IBF lightweight champion for over two years. In search of greatness, Mosley moved up to 147 pounds and had two non-title fights at the novel weight before facing De La Hoya.

De La Hoya, who had lost his undefeated record to a hard-fought and hotly contested decision in another huge fight, the one against Felix Trinidad, was eager to redeem himself and against the talented and lightning-fast Mosley, De La Hoya would have to put an end to everything hanging in the balance to win. The expected rematch with Trinidad did not materialize, and De La Hoya instead boxed Derrell Coley, winning the fight and later reinstated as WBC welterweight champion after Trinidad made the decision to enhance weight.

So De La Hoya-Mosley stepped forward and fans everywhere braced themselves for something special. They got it.

De La Hoya was the biggest star of the Mike Tyson sports bar, while Mosley was showered with tons of praise, with the great Gil Clancy stating that watching Mosley fight “was like watching a fighter” [from] already in the 1940s.” Roy Jones Jr., who in the eyes of many was the king of P4P himself, called Mosley the best lightweight he had ever seen other than Roberto Duran.

Despite the enthusiastic praise Mosley was receiving, De La Hoya was the narrow favorite. Mosley, however, had probably the best fight of his entire professional career. The fight was very close in every round, with both men showing great jab, great body attack and super-fast combinations. One man rolled the round before the other came back to win the next round. Halfway through the game, De La Hoya seemed to be leading, maybe even in control. However, as with the Trinidad fight, Oscar lost several later rounds.

However, unlike the Trinidad fight, where De La Hoya got on his bike in the closing rounds and neglected to land enough punches, this time Oscar fought Mosley. The difference was that Mosley had a better gas tank in the overdue rounds, and his fire and venom allowed him to win rounds 10, 11 and a truly invigorating 12th and final round. They both gave it their all, but Mosley had a little more to give.

With the crowd on their feet, with multiple rounds of the Year Round, the fight lived up to all the hype. Ultimately, Mosley won by split decision, with the score being 116–112 and 115–113 for “Sugar”, with the second score being 115–113 for “Golden Boy”.

Mosley became a novel star in the lower weight classes, and De La Hoya, although he did not win the fight, managed to rehabilitate himself after the defeat against Trinidad. No one could question De La Hoya’s heart now. And no one could question Shane Mosley’s brilliance.

The nickname “Sugar” was and is complex to live up to and well deserved to be given. But “Sugar” Shane Mosley proved he was special.

Let’s hope that later this year, on July 29, we will see another welterweight classic, this time with the clash of Terence Crawford and Errol Spence. Will this upcoming fight make YOUR top 10 welterweight world title fights?