Everyone seemed happy at the Newbridge Boxing Club yesterday. In one room, Bradley Pryce and Enzo Maccarinelli poked fun at Nathan Cleverly, the gym’s young prospect. Next door Joe Calzaghe, the gym’s figurehead, was telling Danish television how he was going to beat that country’s hero on Saturday night.

Four days before Calzaghe’s world super-middleweight title unification bout against Mikkel Kessler and the Welshman’s relaxed mood was rubbing off on everyone around him. Yesterday, the gym doors were thrown open for the media and Calzaghe, who will be urged on by more than 50,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium, charmed everyone.

“I’m very relaxed, the hard work’s all done,” Calzaghe said. “I’m more relaxed because I know I haven’t cheated, I know I’ve sparred and I know I’m not injured – I know in my heart I’m ready to fight. When I faced guys like [Sakio] Bika, [Kabary] Salem, I knew deep in my mind that I hadn’t sparred so well, or I was injured, so I was a bit tense. How was I before the Lacy fight?” Before he took Jeff Lacy’s IBF title in Manchester 20 months ago, Calzaghe had been in a happy, almost bouncy, mood, which had been a total contrast to his American opponent.

Calzaghe is also happy because Kessler is the man he wanted to face. He has admitted that he has never heard of some of his opponents when told of them – another big contest gives the chance to prove the doubters wrong. He has often shunned the spotlight, but Calzaghe wants the respect he feels he is due.

“It was a fight I really had to ask for,” he said. “I’ve been a champion for years and years, but this is only my second unification [Kessler holds the WBA and WBC titles], so it means something to be trying to win something rather than just defending something.

“Kessler’s a good all-round fighter. He’s hungry, I have to make sure I’m equally hungry for this fight. He’s a better fighter than Lacy was, but I keep saying I’m the best super-middleweight in the world, so I have to be able to adapt.

“A lot of people think I am getting over the hill, but believe me, training has gone as well as it ever has. I still feel I’ve got a lot to achieve in boxing.” But here Calzaghe is on home turf and there was little to be down about as the sun shone down the valley on a perfect autumn day and he was surrounded by friends. All the members of the gym seem like friends, even those who are not in training came down to show their support.

Things may not have gone too well in the rugby or football lately, but the tale of the Newbridge Boxing Club is a great Welsh success story. And for that, much of the success goes down to Calzaghe’s father and trainer Enzo.

For years, Calzaghe Sr’s training ability was derided - a case of a brilliant pupil making the teacher look good – but now the gym is the most successful in Britain, maybe the world, drawing comparisons to Emanuel Steward’s Kronk gym in Detroit.

The gym boasts three world champions – Calzaghe, Maccarinelli, the WBO cruiserweight champion, and Gavin Rees, the WBA light-welterweight champion. Pryce, the Commonwealth light-middleweight champion, has also emerged as a world-class boxer having been written off. Enzo Calzaghe has been in the winning corner in 28 successive title bouts and the gym has not sent out a loser in more than two years.

“I think the guys come here and look around them and they can’t help but be inspired,” Calzaghe Sr said. “If you go to Manchester United and watch what goes on, some things are going to rub off on you.”

Calzaghe, though, remains his father’s masterpiece. “Joe is a genius of timing in the ring,” Dad said. “He knows when to step it up, when to slow it down, when to move in, move out. No one could teach that.”

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