On 8 November 2008 Joe Calzaghe entered the ring for the last time at Madison Square Garden in New York to face ring legend Roy Jones Jr in a non-title bout at light heavyweight.

Calzaghe’s subsequent victory over 12 rounds by unanimous decision marked a fitting end to one of the most successful ring careers of any British fighter.

Not many of those have managed to retire undefeated. Calzaghe is one of them, winning 46 out of 46 fights with no draws and with 32 of those wins coming by way of KO.

Yet, despite having achieved such a rare feat, there has always been a sense that Joe Calzaghe has never received the full credit he deserves.

Indeed, when compared to those other great British super middleweights, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, the Welshman’s status has been overshadowed, despite the fact that Calzaghe defeated Eubank in 1997 and thereafter fought whoever was put in front of him.

Moreover a career stretching from 1993, when he was fighting at venues such as Watford Town Hall and the Newport Centre, to 2008, when he fought first against Bernard Hopkins in Vegas followed by Roy Jones at Madison Square Garden, tells its own story.

Not only is Joe Calzaghe one of the greatest southpaws (left handed fighters) to ever lace up a pair of boxing gloves, he stands as one of the best ever fighters to grace the ring period, a fact acknowledged by the sport itself when he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame earlier this year.

Making his success all the more remarkable is the fact he based himself in south Wales throughout his career, training out of the unfashionable Newport Boxing Club under the tutelage of his father Enzo.

The most notable fights in the Welshman’s career were against the aforementioned Chris Eubank in 1997 for the then vacant WBO super middleweight title, Robin Reid in defence of the title in 1999, Jeff Lacy in 2006 in defence of his WBO title and for Lacy’s IBF title and against Mikkel Kessler in 2007 to retain his WBO belt and take the WBA and WBC titles.

Perhaps, if anything, Calzaghe’s career suffered due the lack of a domestic rival.

He arrived at the end of the great British super middleweight era of the early to mid 1990s and retired just before Carl Froch emerged as another great British super middeweight champion.

But regardless, Calzaghe’s name belongs among the very best the sport of boxing has ever produced.