The home favorite had been expected to defeat Cristobal Lorente, claim the European featherweight title and then press on toward a crack at world honors when they first met on October 4.

Things were going well at Braehead Arena in Glasgow, where Collins assumed control early on and started to build up a lead on the scorecards. So well, in fact, that the Scottish southpaw, roared on by the crowd, sensed an early finish.

“I just thought, I’m knocking this guy out,” Collins told The Ring. “It’s going to be like a big fairy tale finish, and I’m going to go into world titles, and then I was hitting him and hitting him and hitting him, and he was still standing there. But because he was taking the shots and still firing back, I just thought I need to show that I’m the man here. I need to show that I’m going to stop you. It was just a bravado thing.

“I remember hurting him in the sixth and then I threw everything at him. I thought this guy’s out of there, he’s gone. I’d watched tape on him and I’d seen him being dropped before. I thought that I’m a level above, so I’m not just going to drop him, I’m going to stop him, and I totally underestimated him that whole camp.”

Instead, after weathering that storm, Lorente began to land some shots of his own and as the fight grew old, Collins was struggling to maintain his grip on it. In the end, what looked like a classic fight of two halves went to the scorecards and the pair could not be split. Scores of 115-113 either way meant Antonio Marogna’s 114-114 card confirmed the draw.

“I don’t necessarily think it was a fight of two halves," Collins said. “Because it wasn’t that he managed to work out what to do, it was more that I let slip what I was already doing. I’ve not actually watched it back in full. I just can’t bring myself to sit down and do it.

“Sometimes Queensberry put clips up on social media and I see myself flailing wildly. I just think, mate, that’s not how I box. I don’t ever want to see myself boxing like that. It’s ridiculous.”

On Friday night, six months on, Collins (17-0-1, 8 KOs) and Lorente (20-0-3, 8 KOs) will go again at OVO Hydro in Glasgow, where an even bigger crowd is expected for their rematch, a final eliminator for the WBC featherweight title. DAZN will stream the card headlined by the Collins-Lorente rematch, starting at 7 p.m. BST.

Their initial contest was the first fight Collins failed to win since Harry Garside eliminated him in the last eight of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Even though he drew with Lorente, Collins says it felt like a loss.

That sensation has inspired big changes in his training camp, which has been focused on maintaining his shape down the stretch after unravelling in the first fight.

When asked to describe his training ahead of this rematch, Collins said, “It’s been … it’s just been mental. I’ve been doing 15 four-minute rounds with 30-second rest, but in between I’ve been jumping on the assault bike and going full blast, getting really fatigued, then back to boxing under the instruction from my coach.

“That’s either on the bag or pads or whatever, swapping between that and some kid of circuit exercise to fatigue. It’s all just about trying to deal with fatigue and sticking to my boxing, sticking to holding my shape when it gets hard in there. So, if the fight goes a similar way, where we get later on and he tries to drag me into a fight, I’m just going to be much fresher.

“I think I just used up a lot when I was trying to take him out, and it took me more time to regain it than what it should have. That won’t happen again. I need to get back in there. I need this fight now. It has been a long six months, but it’s my chance to put things right.”