By Frank Warren

THE Brits abroad boxing roadshow has reached Germany - with Matthew Macklin fighting Felix Sturm for the WBA middleweight title tonight and the Haye v Klitschko blockbuster in Hamburg next week.

It's tough boxing away from home, which is why I've always strived to do the best for the boxers I promote. And that involves gaining them every advantage possible in order to win - the most crucial being home advantage.

Joe Calzaghe got his super-middleweight unification against Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff and Ricky Hatton had his best night against Kostya Tszyu in Manchester. More recently, Scottish star Ricky Burns won his title against Roman Martinez in Glasgow.

Last week Ryan Rhodes got his third shot at a world title after a 12-year wait.

After two failed attempts at middleweight in his native Yorkshire on my promotions, this time he had to travel to the backyard of WBC world light-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in Mexico.

Brave Rhodes was totally dominated by the 20-year-old who floored the Sheffield man in the fourth round. The referee stopped it in the 12th, just as Rhodes' trainer Dave Coldwell threw in the towel.

Macklin, a 9-4 shot, faces a tough fight in Cologne tonight as he attempts to take the WBA crown from Sturm in front of a large crowd.

I promoted Macklin at the start of his career when he was just 18 and there was a lot of hype around him as an amateur.

After a change of promoters he came back to me for his last couple of fights, which he made hard work of and was banged up a bit.

With the fight being on German soil, Macklin will really need to be at his best to beat Sturm - as does any fighter on foreign soil.

FRANK MALONEY got carried away with his heavyweight prospect David Price's win over Tom Dallas last week.

He gushed: "I would love to be the only Englishman to produce two English heavyweight world champions."

He forgets I took Frank Bruno to the WBC title and fellow Brit Herbie Hide to the WBO crown.

KELL BROOK tops the bill at Sheffield's Hillsborough Leisure Centre tonight.

Fans have snapped up all 1,000 tickets to see him fight Lovemore N'dou, a tough 39-year-old veteran.

Expect Brook, 25, to be the first opponent to stop N'dou.

Brook is a good talent and will step up in class immediately after tonight's exercise.

FORMER world champion Robin Reid is in action in Sheffield tonight - at the ripe old age of 40.

He is one of the few to have won a title abroad after stopping Vincenzo Nardiello in Italy in 1996 for the WBC super-middleweight crown.

ONE of the stranger stories of the week involved Mike Tyson's famous Maori face tattoo (right).

The Missouri tattoo artist, S Victor Whitmill, who created the artwork for Tyson, registered the copyright... who else wants that on their boat?