McGregor is coming off the highest profile win of his career, a points victory over Isaac Lowe in Riyadh in December on the undercard of the Tyson Fury v Oleksander Usyk rematch.
That win breathed new life into a career that had stalled after a promising start and, for reasons beyond anything that is happened in the ring, Collins has also found himself having to rebuild.
McGregor’s fellow 28-year-old explained: “I won the British title, signed with Queensbury and I was on a great run, beating all domestic opponents.
“My last fight I won the European silver title, which had made me mandatory for the European. I ended up having a twisted bowel, which just kind of came out of nowhere a week after I fought, so that’s put my career on kind of pause for about 10-11 months.
“It’s been a bit of a wild ride the last year or so because I recovered from this surgery – I got surgery on my nose. I just seem to have been a bit through the wars, but I think that’s made me more resilient.
“Coming into this big 50-50 fight, I’ll look across the ring at Lee McGregor and think, ‘you can’t do anything to me because I’ve already been through so much’.”
He and McGregor are “almost mirror images in our situations”, Collins suggested.
“Lee’s got a wee girl, his family to provide for, I’ve got a wee girl, my family to provide for,” he added.
“We’ve both had these big setbacks, we’ve both come through the other end of it. We’ve shared countless trips and rooms with Team Scotland, we’ve sparred hundreds of rounds in the gym.
“We’re both at that same stage where this fight here can propel us to the next level.”
The mutual respect and friendship between the fighters is clear, but the rivalry between Edinburgh fighter McGregor and Glasgow’s Collins – and what’s at stake for both men – makes this one of the most intriguing domestic fights in years for Scottish boxing fans.
