Tell me Boxing fans. Do/did you rate Calzaghe and Kessler as stay at home fighters?

It is logical for any champion to fight most of the time at home, assuming he gets more money, popularity and crowd than he would if he fought in some foreign country, which is the case with Calzaghe (I assume) and especially Kessler.

Kessler fought away from home many times even while he was the champion, so I assume that he isn't a "stay at home fighter". He obviously made a mistake by going to challenger's hometown to defend his title against Andre Ward though.

As for Calzaghe, depends how you look at it. During his SMW reign, he defended his belt outside the UK only once. Wales and England aren't exactly the same countries so I guess that you would make a case for him fighting away from home, because England really isn't Calzaghe home. On the other side, most of the boxers he fought in England weren't Englishmen, so he was the one supported by the crowd (similar to Klitschko always being supported in Germany regardless of the opponent). Also, during most of the Calzaghe reign, the main stage of the SMW boxing scene was either Germany or UK, so it's logical that he fought almost all of his fight in the UK and not in the United States for example (which wouldn't make any sense for a champion at the time, unless he was American). Also prior to the end of his career, he moved up to light heavyweight and went to the US to fight their stars. So considering all these things, I wouldn't call him exactly a "stay home" fighter, although a case could be made for that.

Maybe you could make a better case with Ward as a 'stay at home' fighter, because so far he has hasn't fought outside of the US, despite the fact that he would make better money fighting outside of his country.

 

So is Mayweather, Roy Jones, De LA Hoya. Do you see what I'm getting at? Joe is a ATG, where ever he fights at:deal

 

Different circumstances.

They never needed to leave home.

Any great fighter who doesn't have big fights in the U.S. will be labelled a stay at home fighter.

 

Stupid thread. Calz fought 2 high level fights abroad while
Kessler fought Prime Mundine in Oz, Journeyman Hausler in
Germany, Calzaghe in Wales, Ward in jokeland, and Froch
in England.
That would be the opposite of stay at home fighter.
Ward, Hopkins, and Mayweather on the other hand.

 

Calzaghe is from Wales, he fought Hopkins and Jones in America, and fought in England as well.

Ward is a stay at home fighter, he will not go outside his home town. Kessler was the champion and he was the one who traveled to Ward's home town. Ward's referee is a disgrace. Ward headbutt from round 1, also used his elbows, low blows, held, you name it, the very illegal head butt that came from across the ring was blatant, but Ward's referee covered for him. Ward should have been disqualified. See why Ward fights in his home town?

 

American fighters don't have to leave home.

It's just the way it is.

But non American fighters/American based fighters have to fight in America at some point to make it big.

The majority of the worlds best fighters are based in America, fighting for the likes of Arum and GBP, on HBO and Showtime.

America is the home of big time boxing.

 

Kessler, no. Calzaghe, yes.

 

Everyone has different circumstances.

Kessler went to the U.S. to fight Ward, and to England to fight Froch. Joe went over to the U.S. in his final year.

Would Joe have even have signed up for a Super Six like tournament? I'm not so sure.

Again, Joe gets labelled as a stay at home fighter, because he didn't crack America. Kessler didn't crack America either, but I don't think anyone was bothered, because he's not as good as Joe was.

Sven Ottke was a stay at home fighter. He had stats at SMW comparable to Joe's, but nobody outside of Europe cared.

Joe proved to the U.S. fans that he was a top fighter, but only after his 34th birthday.

You can say that Joe's label is unfair.

But a guy of his ability could and should have looked to have had bigger fights in the 90's-00's.

I think Joe's label is also a bit of a compliment. Because if he hadn't have been great, nobody would have cared.

The people who label him as a stay at home fighter, know that he was a great fighter, but who should have done more.

So really, they're questioning his ambition, not his talent.


So my answers are no for Kessler and yes for Joe.

No for Kessler, because his circumstances were different to Joe's. But Kessler has done all he could do. He fought the best at the weight against Joe, and has fought Ward and Froch.

A yes for Joe, because he was too GREAT to spend the majority of his career at 168 defending his WBO belt, against mainly subpar opposition whilst prime.

Again, this is a big compliment, as well as a criticism.

A fighter of Joe's ability should have had worldwide recognition in his 20's-30's.

 

It helps also that things like the Ring Magazine and Boxing Hall of Fame are American based and run by Americans and aimed at Americans. It allows America to control the perception of boxing as a sport and its history in the public eye and make America seem all the more important.