JOE CALZAGHE

I was born in London but brought up in Wales from the age of two.

I've never wanted fame. I've only ever wanted recognition.

I believe amateur boxing training should be available in schools. Not for all, but for those who want to.

I embraced every struggle because it made me the fighter I was.

At the end of your career, you go, 'I'm gonna be able to retire undefeated and be one of the very, very few people in history to do it.' People were saying I should try and get to 50-0, but my number was 46 - that was it. I could have kept trying, but one loss would have spoiled everything.

After a weigh-in, you drink and put on the pounds. But it's just fluid, not muscle, so you get in the ring and feel flat.

My dad is a great judge of fights. He's the only person I know who said that Holyfield would beat Tyson the first time.

I'm proud to be one of only a few fighters in history to retire undefeated.

I thank God that I had such an amazing father who was my trainer as well.

When I was 17, my mum made me work in a cake factory for three days - I hated it.

I agreed to be on 'Strictly Come Dancing' without watching the show. I got talked into it by my manager. And my God, I was crap at it.

I can't understand it myself - how nervous I was when I took the floor for 'Strictly Come Dancing.' I walk out with 50,000 people gathered in the Millennium Stadium to fight Mikkel Kessler in the unification fight for the super middleweight division in 2007, and I feel great... and here I am, wearing tight pants and Cuban heels, and freaking out.

There's no point looking good and losing. Winning is what it's all about, and you can't always look spectacular while doing it.

Spiders - hate 'em.

From 13 years old, I was treated like a professional.

There comes a time in any proud sportsman's career when you have to make the difficult decision to stop.

Boxing's a very lonely sport. That ring is the loneliest place in the world.

Boxing's in my blood, so I'll always stay involved in that, and I'll probably do a bit of TV work as well, commentary and that.

When I go into the ring, I don't hate opponents, and I certainly don't want to hurt them.

I was told as a teenager I'd never box again. I had a really bad wrist injury; I couldn't even shadow box for six months. I went through surgery just to try and manage it.

I appreciate what I've achieved, and nearly all of that is because of my dad. He pushed me to train harder than I would have done if he wasn't there to discipline me.

I'm a Juventus fan, although I did support Chelsea for some time - mainly because of Gianfranco Zola. Zola is from the same town as my father Enzo, in Sardinia.

I don't want my career to peter out fighting meaningless fights; I want to go against the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world.

It's one of the biggest disappointments of my boxing career, not going to the Olympics.

I've been through the routine so many times that I genuinely don't even think about a big fight very much beforehand.