Crossing the Pond, Europe vs. America

Just yesterday I saw a comment on a boxing website that a boxing fan still didn't believe in Joe Calzaghe because Calzaghe still hasn't fought in the United States. The opinion expressed was that until Calaghe fought in the States, he wasn't 'for real'. On the flip side, on the same site, Roy Jones fans were defending Roy's decision not to fight British and European opponents on their home turf. The consensus, if one were to over-inflate these two differing opinions into the wider view of American boxing fans (and while I don't think I'd go that far, it appears to be the attitude of a sizable portion and of some writers as well) is the following double standard: a European fighter is not legitimate until he fights in the United States while an American fighter should never fight in Europe under any circumstances because he cannot get a fair shake.

Several years ago now, when Lennox Lewis was still undisputed heavyweight champion and the Klitschko brothers badly wanted to fight him, a casual question was asked between broadcasters watching a Vladimir Klitschko fight. Everyone agreed at the time that Vlad was the number one contender for Lewis' crown. Lewis' trainer/manager, Emmanuel Steward, was the analyst on the broadcast team for HBO's 'Boxing After Dark.' When Steward commented that Klitschko was clearly one of the best fighters in the world and admitted he deserved a shot at Lewis, he was asked if he'd consider a fight in Berlin or Hamburg (Klitschko was based in Germany at the time) to maximize the gate for the fight. Steward's replied, "Absolutely not." He went on to specifically claim that he didn't believe a visting fighter could get a fair fight in Germany. Fighters like Chris Byrd and Derrick Harmon claimed during the same period that the greater difficulty of winning a decision wasn't the least of it. They cited practices like tampering with weigh-in scales and last minute changes in fight dates by German promoters, designed to give visiting fighters a disadvantage. In another HBO broadcast, Harmon's accusations were repeated by Jim Lampley (in a neutral, journalistic fashion) and Steward latched on at once. He once again declared vocally that visiting fighters can't get a fair fight in Germany, supporting Harmon's allegations that the scales were tampered with prior to his KO loss to Darius Michalchewski despite having not been anywhere near the weigh in or the fight.

Winky Wright fought a great deal in Europe. For one stretch, while he was being ignored by the American boxing establishment, he was based in France. He fought in France, Luxembourg, Germany, and the UK and was defeated only once. That was in France by a Mexican fighter, Julio Cesar Vasquez. Clearly, not every American is being ripped off in every European fight venue in every fight. Charles Brewer claimed that his pair of points losses to Sven Ottke in Germany were rip-offs, but his points loss to Joe Calzaghe in Wales happened because Calzaghe beat him up. Marvelous Marvin Hagler fought three times in Europe; once each in the U.K. Italy, and Monaco. He won every fight. His infamous draw with Vito Antofuermo was in Las Vegas.

On the flip side, European fighters claim with a great deal of legitimacy that they can make more money and draw more crowds fighting in their home countries and other European venues. Joe Calzaghe once asked why he should fight in front of 5,000 fans in a casino when he could fight in front of 50,000 fans in a soccer stadium. It's hard to argue with numbers like that, especially when he's the champion in his division and as such has a certain right to set terms. Yet American fighters, promoters, journalists, and broadcasters frequently question the credibility of European fighters who haven't fought in the United States or against American opponents. Victories over American opponents in their home countries are questioned at every opportunity, even when obvious legitimate. When Jeff Lacy is touted as the 168 pound Mike Tyson by the most respected American experts and then beaten to a literal bloody pulp by Joe Calzaghe in a fight that was clearly a monstrous mismatch, Calzaghe (whom Ring Magazine called 'an injury-prone arm puncher' in a State of the Game report when he and rival Sven Ottke were rival super middleweight kings) was not hailed as a great fighter. Lacy was ripped apart as an overrated near-prospect with a blown up record by the same people who had hailed him. There was little admission by most American experts that if they were so wrong about Lacy they might have been equally wrong about Calzaghe.

Hometown fighters, regardless of nationality, can enjoy an advantage with the judges on some occasions. In the old days, judges and referees were afraid to anger hometown fans because of the chance they might be injured or killed in retaliation. These days appear to be mostly behind us, but there appears to still be a faint bias toward a fighter fighting in his hometown even though the judges frequently come from somewhere else. Moreover, there are often several ways to score a close fight and those who wish can nearly always turn a close decision into some kind of controversial robbery if they wish. In a fight where a legitimate case could be made for either man winning, or for a draw, whomever gets the short end of the stick will cry 'robbery.' This is the nature of boxing.

I will say this: I agree that the best fighters in the world can't be truly crowned as 'great' unless they fight the best opposition in the world in their weight class. Ricky Hatton's legacy will always be incomplete until he fights Junior Witter. Floyd Mayweather's 130 lb legacy will always be incomplete because he never fought Joel Casamayor, Acelino Freitas, or Steve Forbes. Roy Jones' legacy will always be incomplete because he never fought Julian Jackson, Gerald McClellan, Nigel Benn, or Darius Michalchewski. Yet this work both ways. Hatton, Mayweather, and Jones have gaps in their legacies but so too do Casamayor, Freitas, Michalchewski, and Witter. With all due respect to Charley Burley, no fighter is great because of the names who chose not to fight him. A fighter is great because of the opposition he faces. The best European fighters can't truly be crowned until they fight the best American fighters in their divisions. The other side of the coin, however, is that the best American fighters can't be crowned until they face the best European fighters in their divisions.

It is, after all, the world championship.