NEWBRIDGE hero Joe Calzaghe, pictured, emerged from a very public work-out yesterday and told Wales' fallen rugby stars: "It's my job to lift the nation now!"

Like many, the 30-year-old WBO super-middleweight champion has been disillusioned with Wales' inept Six Nations campaign where only Italy's presence saved them from the indignity of the wooden spoon.

Now Calzaghe promises to put some fire back into the Welsh dragon when he goes glove-to-glove with former IBF super-middleweight champion Charles Brewer in Cardiff next Saturday.

"The Welsh public is very down after having to watch that rubbish," said Calzaghe, following a work-out in front of the cameras at his humble Newbridge gym yesterday.

"What they need to do is come and support a Welsh champion who can put some positive input into how our sport is perceived, and that's no disrespect to anyone."

Calzaghe looked lean and mean as he sparred with his trainer and father, Enzo, and reports he's in the best shape of his life.

"I'm feeling very sharp - 100%," he promised. "If I'm physically 100%, then I'm mentally 100% and I'm going to win in some style come the fight."

Some 5,000 fight fans will pack into the Cardiff International Arena to witness what promises to be Calzaghe's toughest assignment since taking his prized belt from Chris Eubank in 1997.

Victory would almost certainly guarantee him a mouth-watering showdown with WBC and IBF middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins - possibly in front of 40,000 fans at the Millennium Stadium this summer. That prospect was confirmed last weekend when Calazaghe's manager, Frank Warren, held talks with American promoter Don King's 'people'.

The big KO Kings' night, meanwhile, will be almost an all-Gwent star cast with the bill packed with the cream of our talent.

Cwmbran's Gary Lockett will make the first defence of the WBO intercontinental light-middleweight title as the chief-supporting bout to Calzaghe.

Lockett's opponent has yet to be named but it's been confirmed that Calzaghe's stablemate, Bradley Pryce, will now not make the first defence of his IBF intercontinental light-welterweight crown. Pryce, who also holds the WBO intercontinental lightweight belt, will instead take on Belfast's Daffyd Carlin in an eight-round non-title contest. Another of Enzo's prodigies, Gavin Rees, still doesn't know who he'll fight but another in the Newbridge fold, Nathan King, will take on Birmingham's Jason Nesbitt.