There is a more laid-back feel about Joe Calzaghe these days. Gone is the man with a chip on his shoulder, who felt that he did not get the respect he deserved, that he did not get the money he wanted or the opponents he craved. These days, Calzaghe is not only Britain’s most successful boxer, he is a world star.

The past few months have been full of eye-popping experiences for Calzaghe. First there was his world super-middleweight title unification bout win over Mikkel Kessler in front of more than 50,000 spectators, who stayed up until the early hours at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Then there was his first trip to Las Vegas, where he discovered that people had not only heard of him but they rated him. Then there was winning the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award by more than 50,000 votes from Lewis Hamilton, the Formula One prodigy. Unfashionable, disrespected Calzaghe was suddenly feeling loved.

Yesterday it was confirmed that he will face Bernard Hopkins, the former world middleweight champion who is widely regarded as the world’s No 1 light-heavyweight, at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas on April 19. It is a meeting of legends in the sport, a title the 35-year-old Welshman, despite being a world champion for more than a decade and unbeaten for nearly 18 years, struggled to justify until recently. “People couldn’t knock Kessler,” he said. “The Kessler fight proved everything.”

Even the bout against Hopkins – an evergreen 43-year-old who was world middleweight champion from 1995 to 2005 – a contest that has been eight years in the making, was not secure. That was until the two had a nose-to-nose confrontation in the media centre before the Floyd Mayweather Jr-Ricky Hatton contest in Las Vegas last month. Hopkins declared that he would “never lose to a white boy”, the American media lapped it up, the bout was on.

“I wasn’t offended, why should I be?” Calzaghe said. “I don’t think he is racist, I think it was pantomime. I think the guy knows what he is doing and now everyone is talking about it, which is what you want. If he shakes my hand and gives me a hug, then nobody gives a s***. He can be the bad guy and I’ll be the good guy, and on April 19 I’ll be the bad guy when I chase him down and smash him up.” Being in such a big contest agrees with him, even if he has had to wait for it. “Everything is meant for a reason,” Calzaghe said, displaying the kind of considered view that has sometimes escaped him in the past. “I appreciate things a lot more because of all the years of hard work, because nothing was given to me on a silver plate. It’s sweeter that I’ve had to go through everything over the years. It made me appreciate it more.

“I believe I’m a better fighter now than I was ten years ago. Maybe I wasn’t ready then. I always believed I could be where I am now. I never gave up hope, even when I was fighting Kabary Salem [in 2004] and some people were saying I should retire.

“With Hopkins I know I’m going to have to dominate because I am facing an American in America with an American referee. He’s probably going to be able to get away with things that he wouldn’t over here [in Britain]. That’s the challenge I want.”

A win in Las Vegas would help to cap a wonderful career. “Going to see Ricky over there and the amazing atmosphere in the crowd, it makes the hairs stand up,” he said. “I spoke to Ricky the day after the fight and he said, ‘You deserve to come out here [to Las Vegas] and see your name in lights.’ I wouldn’t like to finish my career and to have never fought there. I don’t think I have anything to prove, but just for the experience.

“I said at the beginning of the year that I wanted to have this and have one more fight and retire undefeated. I’ll be financially secure then and it means a lot to me to have that zero at the end of my record. It’s a fine line; it’s very easy to go on just that bit too long.”

The Ring’s kings battle

Joe Calzaghe will be stepping up from the super-middleweight division for the first time to face Bernard Hopkins on April 19, but although the American is widely considered as the world’s No 1 light-heavyweight, the bout with Calzaghe will not be for an official world title. The situation dates back to 2004, when Antonio Tarver, the WBC and WBA champion, wanted to face Glen Johnson, the IBF champion. Both had been ordered to face mandatory challengers and were stripped of their titles. Hopkins assumed the No 1 spot by beating Tarver in 2006. Thus the bout with Calzaghe will be for the world title according to The Ring, the boxing magazine.

Explore More Sport

• Athletics

• Boxing

• Cycling

• Sailing

• US Sport