U.S. Olympic Boxing Trials : Favored Bantamweight Michael Collins Upset by Truck Driver

One of America’s most decorated amateur boxers was knocked out of the Olympic trials Wednesday night in a semifinal bantamweight upset at the Concord Hilton Hotel.

Michael Collins, a solid favorite for the 1988 Olympic team from La Porte, Tex., was beaten by Kennedy McKinney, a Killeen, Tex., truck driver, who crawled off the mat to register a 4-1 decision.

Collins knocked down McKinney early in the second round, then inexplicably abandoned his smooth, upright boxing style. He tried to knock McKinney out, but McKinney weathered the storm. Then, in the decisive third round, McKinney created a storm center of his own and put Collins in its center.

It was the tournament’s second major surprise. Tuesday, light-heavyweight favorite Anthony Maynard suffered an upset loss.

Whereas Collins’ hopes are at least temporarily on the rocks, another veteran champion continued a comeback Wednesday night. Darin Allen, a middleweight from Columbus, Ohio, gained a 4-1 victory over John Scully of Windsor, Conn.

In 1986, at Reno, Allen looked like a lock for a 1988 Olympic medal. He won a world title in the Reno world championships, the highest-quality amateur boxing tournament held in the world since the 1976 Olympics.

Since then, he has achieved little. He managed to qualify for the 1987 Pan American Games, where he suffered a humiliating one-round knockout defeat by Cuban Angel Espinosa.

Furthermore, he even had to come in through the back door at the Olympic trials. A month ago, he lost a decision to Scully in the eastern Olympic trials final and needed an at-large invitation to reach Concord. Now, he’s won twice at the trials and faces Anthony Hambrick, a Ft. Bragg soldier, in this weekend’s final.

Six championship bouts for Saturday were created Wednesday night, including a heavyweight final matching Ray Mercer of the U.S. Army, stationed in West Germany, against Michael Bent of Cambria Heights, N.Y.

Two world champions won Wednesday. Just before Allen’s victory, welterweight Ken Gould of Rockford, Ill., scored a 5-0 decision over Gerry Payne of Washington, D.C. Gould meets Ron Morgan, Jr., of Cincinnati, the national Golden Gloves champion, Saturday in the final.

The last 12 semifinals bouts will be held tonight at the Concord Hilton. The championship bouts will be held Saturday and Sunday afternoons, outdoors at the Concord Pavilion.

Highlighting tonight’s semifinals will be the super-heavyweights: Robert Salters, also a Ft. Bragg soldier, and New York City’s Riddick Bowe are heavy favorites to continue their drive to the finals.

The James Harris story came to an end in Wednesday evening’s first bout. Harris, a Washington, D.C., light-flyweight who after a severe 1984 motorcycle accident was told he might never walk again, made it to the Olympic trials semifinals. But Wednesday, he lost a 5-0 decision to Eric Griffin of Houston.

On Tuesday, Griffin had beaten Harris’ brother, Mark Johnson.

Harris was never in Wednesday’s fight. In a furiously paced bout, Harris couldn’t escape Griffin’s straight rights and right hooks and by the third round was taking a substantial beating.

Collins, however, seemed to be on track against McKinney when he dropped him with a straight right hand midway through the second. But McKinney, after taking his standing-eight count, got up and turned the fight around.

He peppered Collins with rights and lefts for the remainder of the second, then won the third round, rocking Collins several times.

Collins can now only hope for a “most noteworthy opponent” invitation to the July 16-17 Las Vegas boxoff. Like Maynard, Collins remains one of America’s best. But for the moment, he’s out of the Olympic picture.

He’s a three-time national champion, a silver medal winner at the 1982 World Championships, a runner-up at the 1984 Olympic trials and a silver medal winner at the 1987 Pan American Games.

Collins’ last major competition was the August Pan-Am Games. He didn’t even compete in this year’s nationals.

“I thought after the Pan-Am Games it would be a good idea to stay away from boxing for a while,” he said. “I wanted to be fresh going into the trials. I trained a lot, but I didn’t want any hard fights.

“I still think it was a good idea. I had a problem over the last 10 days finding good sparring partners. I didn’t feel sharp tonight, and I didn’t feel sharp in my first bout here.

“And remember one thing--I lost to a pretty good boxer tonight.”

The young prospect who might one day beat Mike Tyson, some amateur boxing officials say, isn’t here. He isn’t old enough.

Behold Eric Flores, all 314 pounds of him. The New York, boxer won the super-heavyweight championship at the recent USA Amateur Boxing Federation Junior Olympics (for 14- and 15-year-olds) championships. Figure on him for the 1992 Olympic trials, where the minimum age is 16.

Bruce Silverglade, who supervises the USA/ABF’s 2,000 registered junior Olympic class boxers, says Flores is already gaining recognition.

“When you look at him, he looks pretty hopeless,” Silverglade said. “He’s 5-10 or 5-11. He weighed 314 for his last bout at the tournament. But he’s surprisingly agile and quick, and he hits pretty good. If it’s true that the guy who’ll beat Tyson is a young teen-ager someplace, this could be the guy.”