NO FREQUENT FLYER MILES

by Nat Gottlieb

There's no place like home, but the price you pay for staying there is, what the picket fence keeps in, it also keeps out. That has been the central dilemma of Joe Calzaghe's distinguished career. Too much home-cooking, not enough international dining.

By most standards, Calzaghe's record should have brought him world-wide recognition and fame by now. Unbeaten in 41 fights, he is currently the longest reigning world champion in boxing (nine years), having made 18 straight successful title defenses. But of his 41 fights, a combined total of 38 have been fought in either his native Wales (16) or England (22). Joe Calzaghe is something of a homebody.

Until Calzaghe beat Jeff Lacy last March in England in very impressive fashion, he was viewed in the larger boxing world as a highly-talented but "British fighter." He had the world titles, but not the world.

In the aftermath of his dominating performance over the formerly undefeated American champion, Calzaghe experienced what he had long been denied: wide recognition as a world class fighter. But as Calzaghe told the BBC in June after canceling a July 8 bout due to injury, "You're only as good as your last fight."

Calzaghe's last fight was six months ago, and time has a way of clouding the best of memories. His victory over Lacy should have given Calzaghe perfect momentum to launch an invasion of the States. Instead, the pullout -- one of a long string of injury-related fight cancellations by Calzaghe -- only added fuel to the fire of his critics, especially in the British media.

Just when his long-standing detractors were about to eat crow, Calzaghe gave them new reason to crow: "Same old Joe."

That is why Calzaghe's fight Saturday night against Sakio Bika (21-1-2) on HBO's "Boxing After Dark" is more than just about victory. It will give Calzaghe a chance to win over American fans who have seen precious little of him.

There are bigger fights out there for Calzaghe than Bika, but he and his promoter, British giant Frank Warren, know that before they can make a mega-bucks match in the U.S., they need exposure. Right now, Calzaghe is a handsomely-packaged product, but American fans want a closer look inside.

Bika is no push over. His last fight was against Markus Beyer, the WBC super middleweight champ. The 27-year-old Aussie appeared to be holding his own into the fourth round when the fight was stopped due a cut under Beyer's right eye caused by an accidental head butt. The scorecards read, 36-40 on one, 38-38 on the other two. Beyer retained his title on a draw.

While Bika is a credible, perhaps even dangerous opponent, Saturday night's fight will take place in England for the 23d time, and it has raised some of the same question marks that have dogged Calzaghe throughout his career. Chief among them --besides the constant home court advantage -- is the quality of Calzaghe's opponents.

It is a legitimate question, but one that should be tempered by the fact that the division itself, which was created in 1984, has not had a superstar champion since Roy Jones Jr. held a super middleweight title from 1994-1996.

In fact, beginning with the first super middleweight champion, Murray Sutherland, you can count the genuine stars who have owned belts in the division on one hand - Sugar Ray Leonard (1988-90), England's Nigel Benn (1992-96), James Toney (1992-94), and arguably Michael Nunn (1992-94). It is an axiom in boxing that it is very hard for a fighter to define himself without beating a great opponent, and there have precious few out there during Calzaghe's reign.

That being said, negotiations with Jones and Bernard Hopkins several years ago fell through largely because Warren insisted the Americans fight in England, which led to the oft-repeated charge that Calzaghe was being coddled by his promoter. Besides fighting in England, all 16 of Calzaghe's bouts in Wales took place in his home city of Cardiff.

A cursory glance at Calzaghe's record gives the impression he has faced pretty good competition. His last 19 opponents have a combined record of 628-41. Of those 19 boxers, 15 went into the fight with two or fewer losses.

But on closer examination, the vast majority of these competitors - roughly 14 of them - had beaten very low-caliber opponents prior to earning their title shots.

A small sampling: Before facing Calzaghe, Rick Thornberry (23-2) had beaten boxers with records of 5-26, 18-23, 1-0 and 5-17; Juan Carlos Ferreya (51-8-3) had victories over boxers with records of 1-11-2, 3-4, and 1-1; victims of Will McIntrye (29-2) had records of 9-3-1, 0-3, 30-9-2 and 4-24-2.

Only five, maybe six of Calzaghe's opponents, including Lacy, were genuine top fighters: Charles Brewer, Byron Mitchell, Richie Woodhall, Robin Reid, and Chris Eubank, from whom he won the title back in 1997.

But even some of these fighters were suspect at the time they fought Calzaghe. Woodhall was a two-time former champion, but retired immediately after losing to Calzaghe. Eubank, who had a 45-2-2 record before Calzaghe beat him, fought twice more against cruiserweight Carl Thompson and then also retired. Reid, a former champion, was 26-1 before facing Calzaghe, then beat mostly journeymen after that, losing all three of his quality fights, to Lacy, Sven Otke and Silvio Branco.

Lacy was a different story. The hard-punching Floridian was 21-0 with 17 KOs and had defended his share of the title successfully four times. He was a budding superstar, hailed as such before his stunning mauling in Manchester.

Some have tried to excuse the Lacy defeat - including the fighter himself - by saying he was in a fog that night and just threw in a clinker. But there was no taking away from the sensational manner in which Calzaghe fought.

Even Lacy's trainer, Dan Birmingham, said as much in the post-fight press conference. "Calzaghe put on a clinic. He showed he is a master of distance and timing," Birmingham said.

It was easily the greatest showing of Calzaghe's 13-year career. The gracious champion said his respect for Lacy's ability had a lot to do with his performance.

"In fighting a great fighter like Jeff Lacy, it brought of the best in me. I was able to deliver. I knew Lacy's only chance was to stand in there and go toe-to-toe. So I knew I had to move fast, use the jab and combinations and get in and out quickly," Calzaghe said.

Calzaghe's work pace was eye-popping. He won virtually every second of every round, as reflected in the judges' scoring. On two cards, the margin of the unanimous decision was 119-107, and 119-105 on the other. Calzaghe threw a sensational 1,006 punches, a figure he alluded to this week in responding to a story in which Lacy said he would like a rematch.

"I can give Lacy a thousand and six good reasons why he should not get a rematch against me," Calzaghe said. "Because that's the number of times I landed with punches in the fight, and I can count the number of times he caught me on one hand - four."

At 34, Calzaghe is a fighter at his peak, and he knows the down slope is not that far way. He has said repeatedly he would like to have maybe four more matches and then retire. In May at a lunch given by the British Boxing Writers Club in his honor, Calzaghe said, "I think a decade as a world champion has a nice ring to it."

Lately, Calzaghe has begun to talk about his legacy. He wants to be perceived not only as the greatest fighter in British history, but an all-time great in the world's eyes, and earn a spot in the International Hall of Fame.

To do so, Joe Calzaghe is preparing to leave home. His fight with Bikia is in Manchester, but the portal to American fans runs through HBO, a good first step. It is 3,455 miles from London to New York, and roughly 1,500 more to Las Vegas. If Calzaghe wants to cement his legacy, he will finally have to kiss the home-cooking goodbye and rack up some frequent flyer miles.