IT seems that everyone I see around Newbridge and out and about in Gwent all have the same question to ask me – aren’t you bored yet Joe?

I’ve only been retired a few weeks and people already think I am piling on the pounds and don’t have anything to occupy my days now that I am no longer a boxer.

The truth is, I am not bored at all, I don’t have any regrets over my decision to retire and to be honest, I am really starting to appreciate things now.

The start of my retirement was obviously clouded by the fact I knew I had the court case looming with my former promoter and as I mentioned two weeks ago, I am just relieved that the case is over and that all parties can now move on and look forward.

And I can tell you that I am as busy as ever. I am still working out in the Team Calzaghe gym, I wouldn’t call it training because I am retired, but I am still staying in decent shape because I don’t want to pile on the pounds. It’s never been in my nature to sit around doing nothing and I don’t intend to start now just because I have finished boxing.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve done some interesting things, I can say that there are maybe some television opportunities in the pipeline and I am excited by that.

When I was a fighter, boxing came first, second and third. That’s the way it has to be. You can’t stay where you want to in such a tough sport if your mind is on other things.

People have accused me of missing out on many opportunities to raise my profile and make more cash away from the ring when I was a fighter, but it’s staying clear of distractions that helped me to stay undefeated in my opinion.

You only need look at Lennox Lewis, a great fighter who had a brief dip in his career around the same time he was appearing in a Hollywood film. It does happen. You take your eye off the ball for just a short time and you can end up beaten.

However, obviously now that I have hung up the gloves, it’s a better time for me to consider offers in the media and on television; it’s good to be able to branch out.

But of course, boxing remains my first love and we’ve got big plans for Calzaghe Promotions in the next year. I would love to take it to the next level, which means hopefully signing some top fighters and securing television coverage for our bills.

It’s not going to be easy and we’re only too happy with the start we’ve made, our first show in Merthyr was a big success and we’ve got really high hopes for our second show, at the same venue, the Rhydycar Leisure Centre, on May 2.

Kerry Hope is headlining again in a rematch with Taz Jones after Kerry’s unfortunate cuts loss on a bill we had called ‘First Blood.’ But what’s great about the upcoming show is that it won’t just be exciting new talent like Jamie Todd who get their chance, we will also be seeing the long overdue return of several Team Calzaghe fighters.

Harri Miles is going to be in action and we are hoping Tony Doherty will feature as well.

Not to mention the fact that we’ll have a former world champion in action, Gavin Rees making his return to the ring for the first time since losing his WBA light-welterweight crown.

Gavin has been to the top of the sport and can get there again. Hopefully fighting for Calzaghe Promotions.

Speaking of world champions, Britain amazingly has only one at the moment, Carl Froch.

He’s got a huge fight coming up against Jermain Taylor and could come unstuck if Taylor proves he has some heart to back his ability, but hopefully for the UK Froch will win.

But why, when Carl is the only world champion we have and has a great chance to prove himself as the top super middleweight, is he once again talking about me!

It’s frankly ridiculous. He’s our only world champion and yet he is still talking trash about someone who doesn’t even fight anymore. It doesn’t bother me; he can say what he likes (as he did at the weekend, saying he’d knock me out). I don’t feel I have anything to prove to Carl Froch and I find it incredible he can’t just move on and worry about his own career.

The other interesting thing I’ve been up to recently is some work with Beatbullying, one of the main anti-bullying charities.

Another great thing about being retired is having the time to back worthy causes like this one and bullying is a subject close to my heart.

You’ll probably know it was something I had trouble with as a kid, I was fairly shy and for a while bullying was a huge problem and something I simply didn’t know how to deal with.

I had just moved schools, I was pretty small and didn’t have a big mouth, and I was very, very quiet. Kids would call me names; refuse to talk to me, stuff like that. I really went into my shell.

So I can look at it from that perspective but it’s a bit of a double-whammy, because I am also a father and no parent wants their kids to have to deal with bullying.