By Mark Vester

Retired superstar Joe Calzaghe has turned down an offer for a possible ring return in a rematch with Bernard Hopkins. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had approached Calzaghe about a possible Hopkins fight. The Welsh star told Schaefer he would consider the offer. After thinking about it, he ruled out a comeback. Calzaghe retired in early 2009.

He thought hard about a possible comeback and even returned to the gym to begin getting himself back into fighting shape. After a few days in the gym, he realized the hunger to fight again was simply not there.

"There's no truth that I'm coming back," said Calzaghe to Sky Sports. "A lot of boxers come back from retirement but when I retired from boxing, I said I intended to retire and nothing has changed from that. A lot of boxing fans would want to see me come back but at 38, after 27 years in the sport, being a world champ for 11 years, my time is up. I have no desire to fight, to be honest.

"Richard and I spoke about it a few months ago when I was in LA with my girlfriend. I said: 'possibly' and I went away to have some some time to think about it, whether I wanted to do it, who the potential opponents could be. But I went to the gym a couple of times and I realised that I didn't want to. There's always the chance that some big money will be on offer but you shouldn't fight for the money. That would be the wrong reason to go back into it.

"We all need the money but I look at my health, my family and my kids, I look in the mirror and think 'no, I can't do it.' I have come out of my career relatively unmarked and I have ended undefeated world champion, so it's a blessing that I can end my career like that really and I don't want to push it and get greedy and fall back into that temptation that you would always regret for the rest of your life."

Send News Tips and Comments To Mark Vester @ boxingvester@gmail.com