Is this defending Calzaghe or what? Fighting on home ground is all well and good, but you have to test the waters outside of your country's borders, that includes American champs too, assuming that there are worthy foes outside the country. All the greats have fought away from home and performed just as well. When great fighters don't fight outside of their country, it hurts them.

Take Nicolinno Locche for example. GREAT fighter. But he only fought twice outside of e of Argentina and even among some of the most hardcore fans, you'd be lucky for anyone to tell you anything about Locche.

Calzaghe fights in England. England is about the size of California in terms of population, geography it's much smaller. Not every great fighter lives in England nor do they want to go to England to fight. Had Jeff Lacy not gone to England, Calzaghe would mean nothing right now.

It's the same with Jones Jr, he really hurt himself in the eyes of the fans by not going to Europe. Because say what you want about Jones, his resume past 1994 is underwhelming to say the least. Yeah he made money, and that's fine, no one is saying that Calzaghe needs to come to the states to make money, but damn.

Sorry for rambling but nothing gets under my skin quite like a great fighter, who doesn't leave their backyard yet still expects to be great or given the benefit of the doubt when big fights don't get made.