BY KIERAN McCARTHY
IAN Kingston’s belief in Evan Collins is unwavering – he knew the Skibbereen teen (15) had the ability to be crowned world champion at the WAKO Youth World Kickboxing Championships in Budapest.
Even early in the second round of the final against Hungarian fighter Szebenyi-Nagy Szabolcs, who had beaten Collins twice already this year and was ahead in this World gold medal fight, Kingston still believed – and Collins delivered in style.
Evan Collins celebrates with his dad Tom Collins.
He now adds his name to a long list of world champions to emerge from the incredibly-successful West Cork Kickboxing Club. Tony Stephenson, Lily de la Cour, Hannah Stephenson, Eoghan Stephenson, Dominic Stephenson and Grainne Begley have all won world titles, and Evan Collins is now added to that roll of honour.
‘Evan had the belief and I had the belief in him,’ Kingston says.
‘For me, even though the Hungarian beat him twice this year, I knew Evan was going to win.
‘Going into the second round, it took a lot of belief. Evan was behind going into the second round, and was further behind again in the second round, but once he got into his flow, he had a couple of good combinations and he fought to his potential.
‘I knew if he fought at his best he could win, and he did.’
Fighting in the older cadet -57kg kick light category, Collins had eight fights in five days, up against kickboxers from Croatia, Mexico, Greece, Poland, China, Romania, Latvia and Hungary, as he emerged as a world champion. This is a special moment for Collins and his coaches at West Cork Kickboxing Club, Ian Kingston and Tony Stephenson – he joined the club as a five-year-old and has now developed into a world gold medallist.
‘Evan has improved so much over the last few years,’ Kingston says. ‘Last year he was starting to get really competitive, and this year we made a plan for him – we knew he would be strong in his age group, older cadets. Evan lost to the Hungarian fighter in the semi-finals at the Italian World Cup and the final at the Hungarian World Cup, so we analysed it and saw what we could do a little better. As it turned out, they met again in the World final. He led after the first round, but Evan just had to move a little bit faster, keep him on the back foot a bit more, and it worked.’
World champ Evan Collins with his coach Ian Kingston and Desmond Leonard (Ireland coach).
It was a medal-laden trip to Budapest for West Cork Kickboxing Club fighters, as the five fighters who travelled to Budapest won FOUR medals. As well as Collins’ gold, Markuss Bogdanovs from Ballyvourney won bronze at junior level, Cathal Fogarty from Ballingeary won two silver medals in his last year as a junior, while Nathan Cronin (Ballingeary) and Nathan Cronin and Dorinda Roberts (Cobh) competed in their first international competitions.
Next up for Evans Collins will be the step up to junior level, but with the confidence of his world title, and with West Cork Kickboxing Club in his corner, he’ll be armed to take on the world, again.
