Kathy Collins is not a native New Yorker. She was born on an Air Force base
in Maryland in 1971 and spent her formative years in Georgia, coming to New York
in 1990, planning on a nursing career. Those plans changed and Collins, seeking
a new start in a new city, turned a search for an exercise regimen into joining
the Academy of Boxing for Women, which turned into a connection with Frankie
Globoschutz, owner of the Academy and founder and commissioner of the IWBF. It
was also the beginning of her emergence and first step towards establishing
Kathy Collins as a bona fide member in that cherished boxing contingent, a “New
York fighter.”
With Collins, boxing not only seemed to be the answer to the “what’s
next” question, under the guidance of Globoschutz’s management and training, she
turned professional in 1995 and proceeded to establish a literal “streaky”, but
successful, record in the sport; winning her first four bouts, fighting draws in
the next four, followed by seven straight wins.
All but one of those bouts was staged in the New York/New Jersey area where
she quickly established herself as the “go to” boxer in a sport that was rapidly
carving a niche in a major boxing metropolis that extended from Long Island to
the Jersey shore.
Collins six year professional career, 1995-2001, encompassed twenty bouts and
several title belts and her aggressive, move forward style, another
characteristic of “New York” fighters, propelled her to an overall 14-2-4 record
during a period that is, often, viewed as a high point for the sport from both a
talent and TV coverage standpoint. And that high point period was achieved as a
direct result of fighters such as Kathy Collins who not only were a new and
exciting attraction inside the ropes but who, often, took the time and made the
effort to be active, outspoken advocates for their sport outside the ring.
Collins was widely sought after by the media and her final bout, in Madison
Square Garden, a close, majority decision loss to Christy Martin, is a fitting
way to recall this deserving inductee into the International Women’s Boxing Hall
of Fame, class of 2021.
