5 Great British Boxers Who Won World Titles on American Soil

On May 23, James DeGale will bid to become Great Britain's first Olympic gold-medal winner to go on and win a world title.

The Londoner will also be bidding to join a select list of Brits who have become champions on American soil.

He goes up against Andre Dirrell at the Agganis Arena in Boston with the vacant IBF super middleweight title up for grabs.

Ahead of the fight, we have picked out five great Britons who travelled across the Atlantic Ocean and returned home with the gold.

Just to be clear: This is not the entire list of success stories, just a collection of some of the men who have been able to achieve the pinnacle of the sport in the United States.

Alan Minter

Associated Press

Caesars Palace in Las Vegas was the venue for Alan Minter's victory over Vito Antuofermo in March 1980.

The Sussex-born southpaw—nicknamed Boom Boom—returned home with the WBA and WBC middleweight titles after a somewhat controversial points triumph over his opponent.

Antuofermo, who was born in Italy but based in Brooklyn, was not pleased at the final outcome, per BoxRec: "I thought for sure I won. This fight, they gave it to him. I wasn't wrong, your judge was wrong. They should suspend both these judges."

While two officials' cards reflected that they saw little between the pair during the 15-round contest, British judge Roland Dakin scored it 149-137 in Minter's favour.

However, Minter made sure there were no complaints about the result in the rematch three months later. He stopped Antuofermo in the eighth round in London.

His reign didn't last much longer; Marvin Hagler stopped Minter inside three rounds in September due to a nasty cut.

Lloyd Honeyghan

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Lloyd Honeyghan may have been crowned British, Commonwealth and European champion at welterweight, but few thought he stood much of a chance when he travelled to take on Don Curry.

The American was 25-0 and viewed as the best in the division, which was not a big surprise considering he held the IBF, WBA and WBC titles.

Per Gareth A. Davies of the Daily Telegraph, Curry saw his British opponent as a "routine defence" ahead of a money-spinning showdown with Marvin Hagler.

However, fighting Honeyghan in Atlantic City in 1986 turned out to be anything but routine for Curry.

The underdog dominated Curry, though the nasty cut the champion suffered above his left eye actually came about through a clash of heads, per Sports Illustrated (h/t BoxRec).

With his face battered and bruised, Curry told his corner he had no intention of coming out for the seventh round.

Honeyghan—who was actually born in Jamaica but raised in Bermondsey, London—told Davies, "I had no fear of Curry. None. I just came to fight."

Nigel Benn

Don Slabicki/Associated Press

After losing his perfect record to Michael Watson in May 1989 (and in the process losing his Commonwealth middleweight title), Nigel Benn took the brave decision to rebuild his career in America.

He recorded three straight wins before taking on reigning WBO champion Doug DeWitt in Atlantic City in 1990.

The American had claimed the title the previous year yet found Benn too much to handle at the Caesars Hotel & Casino.

DeWitt knocked the challenger down in the second round but was put on the canvas himself in the next.

The Dark Destroyer then dropped his opponent three more times in the eighth round to force referee Randy Neumann to step in and call a halt to proceedings.

Benn defended the belt successfully against another American, Iran Barkley, before rival Chris Eubank ended his reign in November 1990.

Ricky Hatton

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Ricky Hatton had already been crowned a world champion at light welterweight when he was given the chance to contend for the WBA welterweight title.

The Mancunian travelled to Boston, along with plenty of his vocal supporters, to take on reigning champion Luis Collazo.

He seemed set to make short work of the New Yorker when a left hook dropped Collazo in the opening seconds of the contest.

However, as detailed on Bleacher Report, Hatton quickly discovered that the move up to 147 pounds wasn't going to be quite so straightforward as it had initially seemed.

Collazo came back strongly and, in the last of the 12 rounds, had The Hitman in serious trouble.

Yet Hatton stayed upright and, despite sporting a badly bruised left eye, was awarded the fight 115-112 and 114-113 (twice) by the judges at ringside.

He returned down to light welterweight in the immediate aftermath, although he did go back to welterweight later on to take on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Kell Brook

Chris Carlson/Associated Press

Kell Brook had to wait patiently for his chance at a world title.

The Sheffield fighter had won 32 straight fights as a professional when he finally signed to face Shawn Porter at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, in 2013.

Brook had previously been set to take on Devon Alexander for the IBF welterweight title, only for injuries to see him miss out on the opportunity on no less than three occasions.

When Alexander then lost the belt to Porter, The Special One finally got his opportunity.

His bid for glory was not helped by an early cut suffered over his left eye, though he grew in confidence as the bout wore on.

In the end, he did enough to get the nod from two of the three judges in the final reckoning, with the third scoring it 114-114.

Brook said afterward, per Sky Sports: "You can tell how much this means to me. From a nine-year-old I've dreamed of being a world champion. I was born to do this. I always find a way—I always deliver."