I don't buy all this shit about Lucian being protected, at least no more than any other "local" star. He fought purely in his backyard, but it's not like they were handing him complete stiffs or giving him home-cooked decisions like certain European fighters. Sakio Bika, Andrade twice (if he was so protected, why would they put him in there again with the guy who nearly knocked him out?), Edison Miranda (one of the biggest bombers at 168 at the time), Mendy, Glen Johnson... these were tough, high ranking guys, and he mostly won in dominant, impressive fashion. And if he was so protected, why would he ever agree to fight Froch in his backyard?

He fought in Canada exclusively simply because he draws a huge crowd in Quebec and makes a lot more money, as opposed to the US where he had a fraction of the following. So give the guy some credit.

That being said, I think the Froch fight really fucked him up. Froch beat him up. It was an embarrassing, emasculating beatdown. That's a hard one to come back from.