Lee Selby plans to surpass fellow Welshman Joe Calzaghe by conquering America.

The IBF featherweight champion makes the first defence of his title against Mexico's Fernando Montiel in Arizona on October 14.

He widely impressed on his way to becoming a world champion by defeating Evgeny Gradovich at London's O2 Arena in May, which confirmed his status at Wales' best fighter since Calzaghe last fought in 2008, but his ambitions are such that he wants to achieve more than the retired super-middleweight.

Despite being perhaps the finest British fighter in history, Calzaghe continues to polarise opinion. He won each of his 46 fights and reigned as world champion for more than 10 years but in fighting in the United States for the first time in only the final year of his career, beating the great Bernard Hopkins and then Roy Jones Jnr, he remains open to criticism.

Next month's title defence represents Selby's first beyond the UK and his 23rd as a professional, but after multiple training camps in the United States that included trips to Floyd Mayweather's gym, he is adamant it will be far from his last.

"I've spoken to Joe Calzaghe and he has said that he wished he went to America a lot sooner than he did, he only boxed his last couple of fights out there," Selby said.

"It's something that he wished he'd done but now I am doing it and hopefully I will be the one who benefits by going over there early in my career.

"I will be boxing more in America now, I'll probably have three fights a year. Hopefully one of those will be back here in the UK.

"I want to be a worldwide star and to achieve that you have to fight over in America. There's other world champions at my weight: Leo Santa Cruz, Jesus Cuellar... They are the type of fights I want, the big fights.

"(Calzaghe) don't even look like a fighter, his face doesn't look like a boxer, there's few marks. If I can have a career half as successful as Joe's I will be very happy."

Selby signed with advisor Al Haymon, boxing's most powerful figure, shortly after winning his world title. Haymon is credited by Floyd Mayweather as the man who inspired him to earn so much of his fortune and, often labelled "the Welsh Mayweather", Selby has revealed his is a blueprint he intends to use.

"You see what Al Haymon has done with Mayweather," he said. "The money he has made, he said if he was with Al Haymon from the start of his career he would be a billionaire.

"I've never met Haymon, Chris Sanigar (Selby's manager) does all the negotiating.

"There's massive fights for me at featherweight and people are coming down from super-featherweight and lightweight, (and asking) who can take over from (the retired) Mayweather as the pound-for-pound number one.

"Well there's a young lad from Barry Town. I'd like to be it."

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