By the early 1970s, Ann Margaret's empire had been systematically taken apart, brick by brick, by Raquel Welch, Sophia Loren and others. Ann was still a formidable force, but she was increasingly becoming the 'big name' that younger girls sought out in hopes of elevating their own status. It was thought that a low key, jet-setting tour of Europe might right the ship, get Ann winning consistently and set the tone for a dramatic re-invasion of the US.
As a first stop, Joan Collins appeared to fit the bill as an easy mark; a smallish, poor man's Liz Taylor who wouldn't be able to trade punches with the more athletic Margaret and who wouldn't be able to finesse her way out of trouble. But in the pre-tape era, reputations could be deceiving. Collins was known as a nasty scrapper by her peers; much the way today Catherine Zeta Jones is perceived and although more frequently found wrestling on an apartment carpet, Collins had acquitted herself admirably in European rings as well.
The two met in a secluded inlet near Crete, on a small 'battle barge' - a flat bottomed, canopied boat with a ring set up in the middle, seats all around for a privileged few. A blonde Ann Margaret wore a black push-up bra and mauve bikini bottom twist tied at the hips while Collins wore a black and white bandeau bikini, hair slicked back in her trademark low ponytail.
Round 1: Margaret came out with the right hand at her cheek, left hand low, looking to close, get her left shoulder into Joan and crank hooks. Collins responded with flat footed circling to her left, hands out from her body, palms down, jerking a jab from waist level to Ann's breasts and a chopping pesky right on the mouth to answer every Margaret left. Ann forced the action, made the round, but Joan kept her back off the ropes, broke up Margaret's flurries, and placed her shots well - if Ann thought she would walk through her opponent on the day, it wasn't happening early.
Round 2: Margaret continued to step forward, Collins to slide to the side, working behind that abrupt jab, keeping her hands low, but moving her head well. An early collision saw the girls fall in behind punches, Collins’ short right hand jolting Margaret's jaw, and as Joan pulled away, she lavished a hook to Annie's crotch that yanked a cry of protest from the American. Collins stepped right, chipped her jab in and down off the mouth and cracked home a head-snapping right - Margaret was hurt, staggery mid-ring as Joan went to work on the inside. Collins came in hard with her skull, banging Margaret's face back - Harsh left/rights stuck into Margaret's firm tummy, Collins punching and pushing off with her forearms as she backed the blonde up. In the final minute a stunned and shaken Ann Margaret dug in to fight for her life - punches spanked back and forth as the compact beauties stood shoulder to shoulder raking each other's bodies. At the bell, Collins feasted on trunk with a series of scrounging lefts - Margaret sank to one knee in agony - head spinning as Collins swish-stepped all haughty to her corner.
Round 3: An infuriated Ann Margaret roared off her stool, rampaging across the ring to trap a bewildered Joan Collins in her corner. This was bell to bell Ann Margaret at her very best - weight forward, strong legs keeping British butt pinned to turnbuckle and volleys of sustained punches, primarily the hook, but also clubbing overhand rights and uppercuts. Joan Collins slipped into open mouthed stupor as the punishment hammered home - brunette ribs blushed pink as Ann would set and chug 5,6,7 punches home in under either breast. Margaret would pump away with double rights or lefts, getting good bounce from her knees as she dug into British midsection or worked in around the elbows. Crisp, compact uppercuts picked Joan's face up as she swooned forward, leaving her stupid with hurt, seated limp in the ropes. At the bell, Collins was battered senseless - her fouls paid for in full as a seething Margaret was pushed back. And yet, Joan was defiant, straightening up wobbly butt, recognizing that she had survived Ann's very best leather.
Round 4: Margaret continued to pile on. Collins with her back to the ropes couldn't handle the beef, but she did her best to minimize what Ann could take from her. Joan slid to her right, hands earmuffing her head, tilting forward to block body shots on her elbows. Margaret stepped with, propping and measuring Joan with an extended left elbow, snapping off her hooks to ear and ribcage, working that double right hand to the belly, just staying on and working her girl. Another blonde shutout round had Collins taking hard, but the brunette came out of it clear eyed and useful. She favored Ann with a cold glare as the girls passed shoulder to shoulder en route to their corners.
Round 5: Joan went back to that clockwise shuffle, jutting out jabs from her waist, timing Ann for little catspaw right hands on the jaw as the blonde came forward. Midway through, an impatient Margaret lunged as Collins stepped back, then rocked forward with her body behind a short right hand. The girls fell together with a beefy slap, then magic in Margaret's knees as she wilted to the canvas, dazed on all fours! Collins had caught her with a perfect counter right on the chin - the brunette beamed down at her ruined foe - Margaret swayed hurt, barely beating the count and sagging against the ropes for 8. Collins waded in for the final minute and subjected Ann Margaret to a brutal pounding - lavish hooks to belly and low, the left shoulder-prop and clouting right hands across the mouth as Ann drifted out on her feet. Now it was the blonde's turn to suffer and survive - buckling, but refusing to go out as Collins’ harsh fists tore it up. Collins finished strong on Margaret's bra, slugging bra with short, cudgeling strokes. A weepy Ann Margaret would make it to her corner, unable to comprehend that Joan Collins was bludgeoning her.
Round 6: Collins continued to take Ann Margaret apart. Ann seemed flustered, directionless. She would wander straight in, pick up jabs on her chest and mouth, crouch pointlessly with her feet squared up and pose as Collins tapped her side the hook, came up the middle the short left uppercut, then double tapped her belly with jerking lefts from in close. Collins was workmanlike and calm. She stepped around either Margaret shoulder, patiently digging into the waist, going there 2 or 3 times with the same hand, then briskly finishing up with sticking combinations before stepping out. With Margaret cooperating, Collins’ pedestrian punching power began to have wobbly-butt effect. Annie was taking too much, her supporters visibly concerned ringside, and Collins heaped aboard with her short, hurtful strokes bell to bell.
Round 7: Collins sat Annie into the ropes with a heartless series of low left hooks to the crotch, drawing rare referee intervention and a break as Margaret sucked air through pursed lips. But upon recovery, Ann's fire was back. She tore into Joan Collins with renewed vigor, getting off first and landing that hook flush on the jaw for the first time since the early moments. Joan backed up, trying to find Margaret off with the jab, but Annie's fury wouldn't be blunted. Collins was packed to the ropes and bludgeoned about her hips and lower back until she shouted in pain at the impacts. It was blonde standing brunette up at the strands and belting her without mercy - Margaret plundering Collins up to and after the bell as the action grew mindlessly intense.
Round 8: Collins looked low once again, but before she had been purposeful, now she was desperate. Margaret took the shots on a well-turned hip and answered back with short hooks, turning her shoulder into the compact shots and ruining Joan with jaw and rib taps. Collins faltered straight back, windblown and the fight became a beating. A marauding Ann Margaret would not be denied: she bared her teeth, let her hands go. Joan slumped forward, arms crossed, face pinched in a tight grimace, no longer able to evade or answer her foe's blazing fists. Annie settled into a thumping rhythm of left hands in around Joan's right elbow - fists just digging into the meat until Collins puddled to all fours at the ropes. Ann refused to back off, staring down as a quivering Joan Collins hugged herself in body ache, unable to continue. A surprisingly competitive KO8 was awarded Ann Margaret.
Afterward: It was a revelatory fight for both women. Collins had shown much more tenacity and skill than anyone had previously given her credit for. Margaret had come off the canvas, suffered numerous cheap shots, and gutted out a strong finish. Margaret was furious with the event, and her European tour bogged down in a spiteful series of apartment wrestling bouts and further boxing matches with the spirited, unconventional Collins as Ann attempted to impose her will before moving on.
Margaret insists to this day that these bitter weeks spent on Collins reinvigorated her career and refocused her. Opinions vary, with Collins claiming in her memoirs that she, more than any other woman, used up the last dregs of Margaret's greatness. Certainly, Collins/Margaret is one of the great forgotten celebrity rivalries of the last half of the 20th Century.