WHAT a relief to see Joe Calzaghe concentrating on his burgeoning boxing promotion company rather than his foxtrot and waltz. I can’t be the only one who felt distinctly uncomfortable watching a sporting legend being dragged around a dance floor like a piano.

Calzaghe Promotions, a venture many were sceptical of, seems to be genuinely on the right track now, which could have a big impact on boxing in the hotbed of south Wales.

No more sequinned shirts, spats with a judge who looks like he’s been tangoed or embarrassed reactions at dreadful scores, Calzaghe’s Strictly Come Dancing nightmare is thankfully over.

While completely understanding why Joe’s advisors felt the show would be beneficial to him – raising his profile, introducing Joe to a non-Welsh, non-sport fan audience, it’s a shame really that Calzaghe didn’t stick to his guns in never wanting to do any of these reality television shows.

Derided by the judges and saved by the public on three occasions, Calzaghe simply doesn’t belong on a show where he’s scrutinised against an old crow who was married to a rock star and multiple cast-offs from EastEnders and Hollyoaks.

If you’ve ever wondered whether boxing and dancing were at all compatible, you can wonder no more, but Floyd Mayweather’s equally bad performance on the American version of Strictly, probably answered that question a year ago.

So we’ve learned nothing from seeing Joe on Strictly, we’ve been neither enlightened nor entertained, but soon we will get a chance to see Joe once again boosting Welsh boxing.

Thankfully, not by way of a comeback. That isn’t and won’t be on the cards. In his Argus column last week, Calzaghe ruffled the feathers of Carl Froch by insisting Mikkel Kessler will win when the pair fight in March, Froch maintaining that Calzaghe is just bitter and again calling for him to return to action.

Froch seems to have an utter fixation with Calzaghe, who was merely calling it as he sees it while also offering Froch good luck and wishing him well. This is the same Froch who publicly backed Jeff Lacy and Bernard Hopkins to beat Joe, so he really has no leg to stand on in this instance.

There will be no comeback, but for the first time since he retired (and despite the announcement coming this year, it was effectively just under 12-months ago that Joe stopped boxing) there appears to be real belief that Calzaghe Promotions can and will deliver. Not just for Joe and Enzo, but for Wales.

We have one of the most vibrant boxing patches in Britain in this part of the world, a huge number of coaches, men like Bill Reynolds and Tony Borg at St Joseph’s, Gary Butcher at Cwmcarn ABC, Keith Jefferies at Cwmbran ABC, Nathan Cleverly’s father Vince at Bargoed, who dedicate themselves to giving youngsters the chance to get off the streets and into the gym. These guys shape often troubled youngsters into fine amateur boxers and in most cases, have been doing so for decades, though there are way too many names for me to mention. The hope is that one-day, these amateurs will turn into classy professional fighters.

Which is where Calzaghe Promotions comes in. Finally, Welsh boxing talent has a platform to perform on the higher stage.

Other than a link-up between the St Joseph’s boxing stable and Sanigar Promotions, there has been no top class showcase for Welsh fighters.

Not only are Calzaghe Promotions – who return to the Newport Centre on November 20 – giving opportunities to their own stable, Gavin Rees, Hari Miles, Tony Doherty and Bradley Pryce, they are also giving opportunities to the Welsh young guns.

Three of them, Jeff Evans, Ryan Evans and debutante Lee Lewis, get their chance on November 20. Lee Lewis, a young Newport cruiserweight trained by Steve Sims, is exactly the kind of fighter who can and now is benefiting from Wales having a legitimate promotion company with the ability to stage big fight nights. It hasn’t always been so. The first Calzaghe Promotions show was an embarrassment to be frank, but seemingly a necessary learning experience for the Calzaghes. They now have a proper team in place and are reaping the benefits. Football agent Paul Stretford is providing business acumen and organisational skills, Enzo’s old pal Brian Coleman is the matchmaker while another man quietly goes about helping to turn the Calzaghes dream into a reality.

That man is former world champion middleweight Gary Lockett, the ace in the pack for Calzaghe Promotions, the unsung workaholic who is helping to bring everything together.

Lockett has neither the name nor the profile to have gone into promoting on his own, but it’s not taken Joe and Enzo long to realise what a vital role Lockett has to play. As well as managing an increasing stable of fighters himself – including Ryan and Jeff Evans – Lockett is helping in all aspects of Calzaghe Promotions and is the perfect man to have on board.

With things going well, it’s nice to see a return to the smiling enthusiastic Enzo Calzaghe, he’s had a rotten 12 months – as viewers of the excellent BBC docu-series Calzaghe Clan will have seen – but a belief, vibrancy and sense of optimism have returned to the Newbridge Boxing Club.

Long may that continue, the hope being that Calzaghe Promotions can push young Welsh fighters into the spotlight for a long time to come.

2009 has been a dark year for Welsh professional boxers, but the outlook for 2010 is much improved.

Just as long as we don’t see Joe in the jungle chowing down on a monkey testicle in the near future.