Is Joe Calzaghe Britain's greatest ever boxer?

There is nothing like proving the doubters wrong. To many in the American boxing establishment, Europe could be a different planet and certainly a lesser one. For so long derided as “Stay at home Joe”, there was more than a touch of emotion as Joe Calzaghe basked in winning moment No 46 of his professional career.

“I wanted to come to the States, because you guys said I wouldn't come over,” Calzaghe told a press conference. “I wanted to show the world that I was a true champion.” Roy Jones Jr, who had been so thoroughly dominated, was just the latest boxer to discover that facing Calzaghe - who as WBO super-middleweight champion was the third longest-reigning world champion in history - in person was much harder than it had seemed on film. “The pitty-pats were a little harder than I thought,” he said.

Lou DiBella, the American promoter of Paulie Malignaggi, who also played himself in Rocky Balboa, was gushing in his praise. “That is the best fighter in the world - pound for pound,” he said. “That was a brutal beating, Jones's corner should have stopped it.” Max Kellerman, the boxing analyst for HBO, the US cable network, said that the win meant that Calzaghe surpassed Lennox Lewis, the former world heavyweight champion, as the greatest European boxer of all time.

Of Calzaghe's first 44 bouts, 42 had been in the United Kingdom, with one each in Denmark and Germany. This was seen as a constant black mark in America, a nation used to being the centre of the boxing universe.

And Calzaghe's US debut, climbing off the floor to win a split decision points verdict over Bernard Hopkins in Las Vegas in April, was far from decisive. Although Calzaghe seemed a clear winner to most present, as Hopkins spent much of the bout spoiling and fouling, the American refused to accept the verdict.

Hopkins showed he was far from a spent force with a clear win over Kelly Pavlik, the exciting WBC and WBO middleweight champion, last month and had spent the weeks building up to this bout tipping Jones to win. Hopkins was notable by his absence from the post-bout press conference.

Lewis was another Briton who failed to gain acceptance across the Atlantic. He watched the bout from ringside and said that Calzaghe had no doubters now. “I think he has beaten everybody there is to beat and he has nothing else to prove,” Lewis said. “I think he should retire.”