The courage that Billy Collins showed in battle. Collins' iris was torn and his vision was permanently blurred, ending his boxing career.
June 16th, 1983, this is a memorable time, especially for boxers who respect sports fairness and abide by the rules!
The event was played in a 10-legged match between Billy Collins vs Luis Resto.
Initially, Resto won the unanimous ruling. The NYSAC then ordered the result to be changed to "no result" after Resto's coach Panama Lewis illegally tampered with his gloves before the game, and an investigation revealed that Resto had a 3/4-inch hole in his gloves and that the original one-ounce padding on each glove had been removed.
As a result of the incident, Resto was convicted of assault, conspiracy and unlawful possession of a lethal weapon (his fist and gloves). He was sentenced to three years in prison, serving two and a half years. Lewis was sentenced to six years in prison, lewis was released in 1990 and Resto in 1989. Both were banned from boxing matches for life.
Unbeknownst to the game, commentators of the match repeatedly mentioned the courage that Billy Collins showed in battle. Collins' iris was torn and his vision was permanently blurred, ending his boxing career. On March 6, 1984, he crashed into a culvert near his home in Antioch, Tennessee, and died.
The game and its aftermath was made by HBO in 2009 as a documentary called Assault in the Ring. In an interview, Resto admitted that Lewis not only removed the padding from his gloves, but also soaked his handband in a plaster cast to harden it. He also claimed that at the heart of the conspiracy was a large sum of money staked on him, which was provided by a third party who had seen Lewis before the game.
In Collins' corner, his coach/father told him, "You're doing a great job, son. When he stood up to play the final round, his eyebrows and the bridge of his nose were swollen ugly, and his two eyes were almost completely closed. In the last minute of the final round, Collins was again injured by his left hand, but when the match ended, he punched out a heavy punch. At the end of the game, the audience gave a standing ovation, and Resto came over, hugged Collins, and kissed him on the cheek. Just as Resto was leaving the corner, Collins' father grabbed Resto's right glove and began calling the police chief, saying, "The padding in his damn glove is gone." Resto tried to break free and the chief of police came in to check on them, and Lewis said, "This is the glove they [the referee] gave us."
