“I don’t know … proud,” Nathaniel Collins replies.

He has been asked how he feels when he sees the viral image of him, already a slim man, seemingly wasting away on a hospital bed fighting back from a career-threatening illness only last year.

“I’m proud of how far I’ve came. I don’t actually know how I feel.”

Modesty causes Collins to shrug and downplay his emotions.

“I never think about it. I never think about what happened, I never talk about what happened, unless I’m being interviewed. But, like, genuinely, mate, it was just something that’s happened to me and it could have been a big deal or it could have been made a bigger deal but that’s not how I am. It’s happened and I’ve just moved on from it.”

Of course, Collins has been questioned about his illness and surgery many times (more of which comes later), but in sport and in life – and on no stage greater than that of boxing – is a feel-good story of battling back from the brink appreciated. 

For we put our athletes, understandably, on a pedestal, of doing things that we can’t and facing fears that we do not have to.

For Collins, it was about getting back to business as soon as he could. It was never a matter of him not making it back.

“Not really,” he said. “I just thought it might take some time and never did I think it would be this quick. Like, less than a year I was back fighting so I never thought it would be that quick but I didn’t think it was going to be impossible. I just took the time that I did have to properly, like, get myself back to where I needed to be.”

Collins is beyond where many need to be. He has cut himself into incredible shape, and away from boxing has notched several Hyrox races under his belt.

Hyrox is a bucket-list item for fitness enthusiasts, and the huge and ever-growing community sees races around the world sell-out in minutes such is the demand.

The race is the same format each time, a 1km run followed by a different station of fitness, be it ski erg, rowing, sled pushes, burpee broad jumps, etc.

After Collins’ last fight, he did three in three days, a mixed pairs’ race, a same sex pairs and an individual race. That is crazy volume. 

“I do like it. I enjoy it,” he said.

And even though Hyrox plays a compulsory second fiddle to boxing, it is another arena where Collins can exhibit his competitiveness. There are full-time Hyrox athletes, and Collins’ times would probably strike fear into plenty of them.

“I don’t train or focus my training on Hyrox, but when I do Hyrox I want to beat Hyrox-ers. I want to be beating guys that are training this every day. That’s not my specific training, but I still want to beat you at it. If I’m doing long-distance running or if I’m doing any running, I still want to be better than you at running, even though I’m not a runner. I’ve just got that thing where I just want to be better than people at things. It could be anything.”

Collins wants to be uncommonly good amongst uncommon people, which is what the southpaw was in May when he stopped countryman Lee McGregor in an unexpectedly one-sided fight.    

“I kind of expected a bit of a war, to be honest,” admitted Collins. “Just because I know Lee so well, and I know, obviously, we’ve sparred plenty together and stuff. I knew I had the capabilities to outbox him anyway, but I didn’t think it would have went like that, to be fair. But I do think, I’ve said for a long time, and maybe it’s fallen on deaf ears, but I do think that’s the level I’m at and I’ve been at that level. And I was confident going into it. So yeah, I’m glad that that was how it went, and that was the kind of finally getting the recognition of ‘this guy is what he says he is.’”

Does that mean that Collins will be The Next King of Scotland, as he has been anointed on the fight posters ahead of this weekend?

Again, modesty forbids him from accepting the mantle.

“I don’t know, I’m not billing myself as that. That might be what they’re calling me, and if other people want to call me it, that’s fine, but that’s not the way I talk about myself.”

Last month, a Lewis Crocker victory in Ireland for the IBF welterweight title perhaps signalled a return of big fight nights in Belfast. Crocker was under no illusions that had his opponent Paddy Donovan won, the same type of shows and the platform for the up-and-comers in Ireland would not be there because Donovan is from Limerick. But, like Crocker, Collins is not feeling the pressure despite having the opportunity to bring the big nights back to Scotland.

“Not really, mate, and the reason being is that for long enough I’ve asked to get in this position, and for long enough I’ve asked… I didn’t want journeymen when I was at the start of my career, then I fought all sorts of domestic fights, and I was saying I don’t want any more domestic fights, I need to move on, so I don’t feel like you’re allowed to feel pressure for something that you’ve asked for. In my opinion, if I didn’t think I was ready for this level, and I didn’t think I was ready to carry or bring back big nights to Scotland then I wouldn’t have asked for it.”
Even Collins, however, admits that going into the McGregor fight it was not likely that he would be headlining the next one. That bout was on the undercard of Josh Taylor-Ekow Essuman, and not only did Essuman score an upset win, but Taylor subsequently was forced to retire with an eye injury. 

“I think it came about quick, because they were talking about it at that [Taylor-Essuman] press conference, saying, ‘Oh, the person who wins this fight [Collins-McGregor] could potentially be the next name in Scotland.’ Again, not thinking that that was what the outcome was going to be with Josh, so it did come f******fast, but that’s what we’re here for. 

“And if you actually look back to the Hydro card, it was all the same boys on it that are fighting on this card, and it was like every other fight was a knockout or some real good standout performance. So it was like, we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the entertainment factor. It’s just getting the platform, which we’ve now got as well.”

Collins is 17-0 (8 KOs) and on Saturday is tasked with overcoming Spaniard Cristobal Lorente at the Braehead Arena.

The Scot admits he has left much of the tape study to his team, instead focusing on himself and his strategy but he is well aware of what victory could mean for his future. The likes of Queensberry stablemate WBA ruler Nick Ball, WBC champion Stephen Fulton (who faces O’Shaquie Foster later this year) and Michael Conlan have all been mentioned as possible future foes. For Collins, though, there is no future foe if he doesn’t win on Saturday.

“I just think there’s not a next one,” he said when asked how difficult it was not to look too far ahead. “You need to deal with this one or there’s not a next one. It doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about the next ones, but this is like a final eliminator for the WBC. The WBC put it up on their website the other day, something like, whoever wins this fight will fight Stephen Fulton. You know, obviously, Stephen Fulton’s tied up at the end of October as well, but they're looking at it and saying that this is this and this is what it is. So I’m taking that forward and thinking, like, this is life or death now.

“And I think like every time that I've fought and performed or fought and delivered, like, people are always focusing on this next one. I’ve always delivered no matter what it’s been so far. I’ve always delivered no matter what my circumstances have been. So I’m going to deliver again on Saturday and then the next thing needs to be bigger. And that’s just how I see it. This is big, but the next thing is going to be bigger. So I’m at risk. I just want much more all the time. Which is why it works. I need to keep being bigger and better every time.” 

Does that mean the WBC title is Collins’ preferred route forward?

“Yeah, or whoever’s the champion by the time I get there or whatever. I don’t know how the dynamic will shift or play out after my fight, after their fight, but after this one, I just want a world title. It’s not a question. It’s not like, ‘Oh, you could potentially fight this guy. You could potentially fight that guy.’ No, it’s like, next one’s a world title when it needs to be.” 

The Collins story can’t be written without at least a nod to the adversity he’s overcome. 

He was born with gastroschisis – as he explains, born with his insides on the outside – and after he fought Francesco Grandelli last May, his bowel became twisted and he had to go under the knife for eight hours.

“So when I was born – I don't know as much about it – they knew that this was happening and then obviously there’s X amount of percentage of ‘we can sort this or we can’t sort it’ and I had one of the best child surgeons, who had happened to be in Newcastle and that’s where my mum had went to give birth. So that was kind of life-saving, and then with the twisted bowel, like, I’d been left for a long time before they had actually figured out what it was and it was like, ‘No, your bowel could burst inside you here so we need to get it sorted ASAP,’ and, as soon as they knew, it was straight to the operating theatre.” 

Both circumstances could have ended far worse than they have, and now he is his nation’s flagbearer, preparing to carry the next wave of Scots with him.

Of course, there’s a host of wonderful Scottish fighters from the past, such as Jackie Patterson, Benny Lynch, Ken Buchanan, Jim Watt, Alex Arthur, Scott Harrison, Ricky Burns and Taylor.

Harrison was one of Collins’ father’s favorites, and Nathaniel remembers attending Burns vs. Kevin Mitchell in 2012. Burns was not a knockout artist, and like Collins-McGregor, an intense battle was forecast only for Burns to also win in four rounds.

“My dad loved Kevin Mitchell even though he was English and obviously we loved Ricky and then for Ricky to go and stop him and properly stop him was like a mega fight that I loved,” said Collins. “It was some fight, man, honestly. I don’t think I’ll forget that fight just because Mitchell was also, like, running through people at the time and back when I used to watch BoxNation, like, every day. So I thought it was going to be a tough fight for Ricky. And then Josh [Taylor], obviously, I watched him for years even as an amateur coming through and stuff, so it's all these guys, these people I look up to. And then I'll be one of the guys that I'm talking about where I'm like, I loved seeing Ricky Burns be so-and-so, I loved seeing Scott Harrison, I loved seeing Willie Limond, you know. People in five, 10 years will say, I loved seeing Nathaniel do this, or the next guy you're interviewing through Scotland is going to say, ‘Oh, that show there, that put him there.’ That’s kind of the goal, isn’t it?” 

There is clearly a fire that burns inside Collins.

The desire to be the best sets him apart and it is what he says he most enjoys about boxing.

“Nobody’s ever asked me that,” he said, asked what he specifically likes about the sport. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just like the fact that I’m pushing myself beyond the level that normal people who have a normal life and, I don't know, does that sound daft or arrogant? I don’t know, but I feel like I’m pushing myself beyond what’s possible with the build-ups and then to then go and get the result and I just crave a win. I just crave winning. Like, in day-to-day stuff, it’s stupid. Anything I do, I just want to win it and I want to say I’m better than you. I’m better than these people.”

His words are made all the more jarring given Collins seems a genuinely pleasant and likeable man. At some point, however, the switch will be flicked and beating the 20-1-2 (8 KOs) Lorente will be the only thing on his mind.

“No, definitely,” he said. “And there’s a separation between it’s you and me type thing, where if it’s not me [winning], that’s affecting food on the table or a holiday or paying my house this month or just one of the ones where it’s that survival. It’s different. It’s totally different. It’s like survival of the fittest at that point.” 

Which is just as well for Collins, who, Hyrox aside, loves all manner of physical challenges. On November 8 he has signed up to do the Backyard Ultra, which is 6.7k every hour on the hour until you drop out.

And it is partly through everything he has overcome from a health perspective that means he relishes every challenge, no matter the odds and no matter how daunting.

“Anything can happen, not just in boxing but in life and what’s meant to be for you will be for you and, like, I genuinely believe that because everything that’s happened to me and I’m still here pushing, this was meant to be for me,” said Collins. “And this is going to be a big performance on Saturday and then the next thing is a world title. That’s the path that I’ve seen.”