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Three years after a larger-than-life Sheffield dad-of-nine died on a family holiday, a decision is awaited over a giant memorial controversially erected in his memory.

Willy Collins was just 49 when he tragically collapsed and died on July 7, 2020, just days after flying out to Majorca to celebrate his wife Kathleen's 48th birthday. The patriarch of a traveller family, who lived in Darnall and was known to friends as ‘Big Willy’ and the ‘King of Sheffield’, he was described by Kathleen following his death as the ‘love of my life’, a ‘gentle giant’ and a ‘great’ father and grandfather.

He was a well-known bare-knuckle boxer, who used to train at Brendan Ingle's gym in Wincobank, and boxers including Tyson Fury, Kell Brook and Billy Joe Saunders were among those who sent their condolences to his family.

Hundreds of mourners attended his lavish funeral in August 2020, with 30 horses trailing his 22-carat gold casket, which was delivered on a monster truck and carried to the cemetery in a horse-drawn carriage.

A close-up of the 37-ton memorial to dad-of-nine Willy Collins, who died suddenly aged just 49, which was unveiled at Shiregreen Cemetery, Sheffield, in March 2022. A decision over its future is still awaited following a dispute about its size.

In March 2022, a 37-ton memorial to Willy Collins, said to be crafted using solid Carrara marble from Italy and reputedly costing £200,000, was unveiled at Shiregreen Cemetery. It features two life-size statues of the boxer, four flagpoles, depictions of biblical scenes and a solar-power jukebox playing his favourite songs, and it is lit up in LED lights which change colour.

The massive memorial has divided opinion ever since, with some people admiring the spectacle and others branding it an eyesore.

Sheffield Council claimed shortly after it was unveiled that the memorial’s size breached the guidelines for graves in the city. The Collins family have always insisted permission was granted for the grave but the council disagrees. The family have warned that there would be ‘war’ if the memorial is damaged or taken down by the council.

The council said earlier this year that it was ‘still trying to achieve an agreed position with the Collins family over the future of the memorial’. Asked again this week about the memorial, the council said there were ‘no further updates at this time’.

When 37-ton memorial to Willy Collins was unveiled at Shiregreen Cemetery, Sheffield, in March 2022, it attracted worldwide attention. Rumoured to have cost £200,000 and featuring two life-sized statues of the bare-knuckle boxer, as well as LED lights and a jukebox playing his favourite tracks, it was hard to miss.

A council response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that officials refused to grant permission for parts of the spectacular memorial – life size statues of Mr Collins – because they were too high. Graveside monuments are expected to be kept at under 4ft 6ins in height. The plan was then revised and permission was granted at that stage.

But the council has claimed there were then additions to the memorial installed at a later date by a different, unnamed mason to the one who they had originally been dealing with.

Willy Collins Sheffield: Decision awaited over controversial 37-ton memorial after anniversary of sudden death

But the council has claimed there were then additions to the memorial installed at a later date by a different, unnamed mason to the one who they had originally been dealing with.