A LITTLE over a year ago anyone who suggested that world title fights would be staged in the sylvan setting of the Green Glens Arena in outer Millstreet would have inspired his friends to send for the men in the white coats.

If that same person also said that there would be nine Irish boxers on they bill all hope of a recovery would immediately be abandoned.

And yet that is precisely what will happen in Millstreet tonight - and it will be the second such event there within a year.

When the announcement was made that Chris Eubank was to defend his WBO super middleweight title there on the St Patrick's weekend last year Eubank watchers were amazed. Eubank was associated with fast cars, Harley Davidson motor bikes and the like. Only the riding crop and the jodhpurs seemed to fit the scene.

And yet there were many commentators, not all of them English either, who scoffed at the idea and were scratching in terms like "broken down cow shed" and the like. They misjudged their man - that man being Noel C. Duggan.

It was very easy for the lads from London in the sharp suits to believe they were dealing with a typical Irishman. To add to the whimsical image Noel C. Duggan is not a lot taller than two sods of turf. Noel C wangle his way into their hearts with sheer charm and when he had them trapped he pulled the level and drove the hardest bargains that any of the London wideboys had ever seen.

The promoter Barry Hearn also came to respect and admire Noel C and acknowledged that he had met a man worthy of his won mettle.

What they all learned was that, behind the lob sided smile, there lurked a shrewd businessman who would not be outwitted not even in the world of boxing promotion where many a man who thought he had a lot of acumen, found himself floundering in a blizzard of contracts and options and rematches for which professionalism is noted.

Noel C. Duggan stood up to them and in doing so became something of a world champion himself, gaining the respect and even affection of some of the toughest dealers in the boxing business.

There are many in Cork and elsewhere who find it difficult to figure out Steve Collins and his rather contradictory personas. Many who have known him for some time find it difficult to work out which is the Dr Jekyll and which the Mr Hyde.

Whatever about his opponents, Collins will never underestimate himself. He has done what he has set out to do with sheer determination. At the "head to head" press conference on Thursday he was spitting fire and brimstone.

These kind of "press conferences" are notorious for producing a lot of "hype" and boxers have had to be dragged apart on occasion leaving the impression that much of what goes on is for the benefit of the camera rather than a means of getting observers or analysts an insight into what may happen in the ring.

And yet Collins has beaten some of the best in spite of what some may say. Who would have though just a year ago that he would have beaten Chris Eubank not once but twice and beat him fairly and squarely into the bargain.

Even before he was champion he never ducked a tough challenge He beat people like Kevin Watts and Tony Thornton on his way to earning a title fight against Mike McCallum.

Similarly he took on Reggie Johnson and lost on points and then Sumbu Kalambay for the European middleweight title and lost on points again. The irony was that he proved that he was a match for the best and that many of the contenders or even the champions were not interested in meeting him.

Now he says he'll take them all on. The braggart in his step may well be for show but nobody can take away from what he has achieved. Perhaps we Irish like our champions to be modest pussycats.

Not so Stephen Collins. He has a dream and when it has been realised perhaps we will see the real Steve Collins - the working class Dub who knew what he wanted and took on the harsh world of boxing to prove something to himself. In that he has been admirable and must get credit for that. Modesty may come with age but winning is what he is about just now.