'Am I good enough already?' - Collins ready to seize Lorente rematch

"I still don't know how one judge could have scored him up, you know," Nathaniel Collins wonders. "But I'm not too bothered now."

The Glasgow-born-and-bred featherweight has had plenty of time to mull over his last bout, if he so chooses - half a year, in fact.

Six months have passed since he stepped into the ring for a hometown shot at the European title versus Spaniard  Cristobal Lorente.

Bookmakers had him odds-on for the victory. Instead, a controversial split-draw saw the EBU strap slip through his fingers like water.

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Collins prepares for crucial Lorente rematch

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Plenty of great fighters have been blindsided by the judges before. Plenty have continued to rage against the light for long afterwards.

Collins may have had every reason to. Instead, he has knuckled down for a rematch, determined to go one better and leave no doubt.

At the same time, he concurs that this second bite of the cherry against his old foe comes freighted with a new kind of danger in hand.

"I feel like it's hard, with the rematch," he tells  DAZN News. "Because you think you know what they're going to do, their game plan.

"At the same time, they'll know what my game plan is going to be. So how do you be unpredictable? Or am I good enough already?"

'You don't want to peak at the wrong times'

Collins has spent time stateside in preparation for this second crack at Lorente, working with top-level opponents in sparring sessions.

Beyond that, however, the sheer incentive of higher stakes will fire both men further - a WBC featherweight mandatory challenger slot.

Champion Bruce Carrington is one of the most dangerous operators in the division right now, a sturdy test for whoever triumphs here.

For Collins, however, actually nailing down another bout with Lorente proved to be the most elusive part of his preparations beforehand.

"There was a bit of humming and hawing about this match," he admits. "That was more difficult for me. I was kind of half-ready, then not.

"You don't want to peak at the wrong times. I've been in camp since Christmas, but I didn't do anything major until the date was finalised."

Collins knows victory cues up the biggest night of his life, the chance to emulate fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr. he grew up watching.

Wherever Carrington wants to take him, he will be there. "I would go anywhere for the opportunity. I'd love to fight in Madison Square Garden.

"That's the dream, and Las Vegas too. But if I could take it to Scotland, that would be unreal and amazing. Anywhere, I'll be happy with it."

'I wasn't a big enough name for a world champion'

Collins also arrives for this bout in the knowledge he can establish himself as Britain's leading featherweight after Nick Ball's first pro defeat.

The Liverpool fighter, long linked to a domestic dust-up with the Scotsman, was toppled by Brandon Figueroa earlier this year in a major loss.

While the star is expected to come again at some point, his reverse leaves a vacancy at the top of the tree, one many see Collins suited to fill.

That said, the latter "does not think about the pressure" that comes with those expectations, even if he never got his chance to face Ball himself.

Queensberry/Leigh Dawney

"Me and him have been mentioned together a few times," he notes. "It's an idea that maybe I wasn't a big enough name for a world champion."

He is set to become a very big name if all goes well against Lorente, perhaps second only this summer to the Scotland national football team.

Will he be cheering on with the rest of the country this year, once he has put his rival to bed for good? Collins gives a bemused chuckle in turn.

"You're asking the wrong man!" he laughs. "I don't like football. My family are massive fans. I think they've booked to go to the FIFA World Cup."

He laughs again. "It's probably why I took so long to grow my support here. It doesn't go down well, but I don't like it - nobody's getting punched!" 

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