SO that’s that then.

By now I am sure you have heard, I am no longer an active boxer, the gloves are officially hung up.

As much as I have loved the speculation, the so-called inside sources who have been reporting my every mood and emotion as I deliberated my decision, the time has come to end that speculation.

I didn’t want a big fuss when I announced that I was retiring.

I was happy to just do a small piece for the news and make sure that the timing of the announcement meant that I could explain myself in this column. Because more than anything I cherish the support I’ve had from the British public, but mostly the support I’ve had in Wales and from this region in particular.

It honestly wasn’t a hard decision to make to retire, my mind has been made up for some time, but I felt it was really important to give myself a decent amount of time to sleep on it and make sure I was doing the right thing.

Because you’re a long time retired.

After the Roy Jones fight I felt it, I knew that I was ready to call it a day and to move onto the next phase in my life.

I confided in a few people that I trusted that I felt it was all over and then when I met the British press the next day (worse for wear I must admit after no sleep) I made it clear that I was pretty sure I was done.

I’ve said it before in this column, if I was at a weight category where I could fight the likes of Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, then it would be a different story, they are fighters to carry on for.

I am not retiring because I don’t feel I can maintain the same standard anymore, I might have been put down by Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins, but in myself I feel absolutely fantastic.

It’s ironic I guess, my hand wasn’t too bad after beating Roy Jones and my weight has been pretty consistent since the fight too, I could be in proper fighting shape in a matter of weeks.

But what for? The money? Rocky Marciano’s record?

I’ve seen what some people have said, of course I will take the money, I will want to beat Rocky’s record. It simply isn’t me.

Rocky Marciano is a true legend of the sport and I am not going to chase meaningless fights just to beat his record. It is up to others to judge what my legacy is.

Of course I could’ve done it, I could have fought three bums this year and been done with it, retired a bit richer and having beaten the record.

But what would it honestly mean?

It’s all about the names you’ve beaten and that is why I’ve fought on as long as I have.

When I beat Chris Eubank in 1997 I said that I would retire by the time I was 30.

But at 30, even at 33, I wasn’t satisfied with what I had achieved.

I was the nearly man of world boxing.

I had nearly been involved with lots of unification fights. I had nearly been part of the great era when the likes of Steve Collins, Eubank and Michael Watson were dominant at super middleweight. I had nearly been a world champion for coming up to a decade.

But it wasn’t enough for me, in my heart I knew that I had to do more.

The Jeff Lacy fight changed a lot of opinions - look at his record before we fought and tell me how on earth he was the bookies favourite - people finally realised I was the real deal.

I chased hard to fight Mikkel Kessler, I unified the super middleweight division finally and enjoyed the greatest night of my career - maybe my life - winning that fight in front of 50,000 people at the Millennium Stadium.

That would’ve been a pretty amazing way to bow out.

But I have always believed I could be a two-weight world champion and I wanted to beat the best at light-heavyweight, which meant fighting Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones.

It’s funny, when I beat Hopkins, people said “so what, big deal, Hopkins is washed up.”

Then he utterly destroyed the man I apparently had to fight in Kelly Pavlik, Hopkins now in the top five of every pound-for-pound list in the world.

It’ll be the same story with Roy Jones; he’ll be a world champion again.

Of course I wish I could’ve fought them sooner than I did, but they didn’t want to know, I wasn’t a big enough name.

Now I can bow out knowing that I have taken my career as far as I can anything else I did now would seem meaningless.

Chad Dawson? Hopkins rematch? I just don’t see the point.

I have beaten every great fighter in the world today who I could possibly face and I am happy to bow out with an unblemished record of 46-0.

I am also hugely excited about the future.

I want to spend much more time with my family - my two sons Joe and Connor in particular - and my second family, guys who box in our gym like Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin Rees and Bradley Pryce.

I intend to stay in shape, to help them train and to focus on putting on some great boxing shows under the banner of Calzaghe Promotions.

I will also look at a few potential TV opportunities and continue to raise money and awareness for charity, because it is time to put something back.

I really have had the time of my life and want to thank my family, friends, the South Wales Argus and most of all my brilliant supporters, for coming along for the ride.

This isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning.