IT'S a pretty strange feeling, writing this column knowing that I may very well never step into the ring again as a professional boxer.

There is so much I want to talk about after one of the most incredible weeks of my life, so I might as well get the retirement stuff out of the way first as I know I am going to be asked about it repeatedly if I don’t address it here.

Really, honestly, 100%, I haven’t made any decision yet. I have been happy to tell the journalists that I speak to regularly the absolute truth, at the moment I can’t see myself fighting again.

I am sore, banged up and I feel old, you know, 36, coming up for 37, and with 46 professional fights under my belt. I’ve been in a lot of wars over the years and in the past 12 months I’ve done things under my own terms, fought and beaten two genuinely world class fighters. It feels good.

There is no-one out there that makes me think, yes, he’s the one, that’s a guy worth spending another six months in the gym, not eating what I want, not being able to drink the odd pint of Guinness, in order to fight on. I think I’ve achieved all there is for me to achieve.

One thing is certain. I am not chasing Rocky Marciano’s unbeaten 49-0 record. I can’t be any clearer.

But, I don’t want to retire, change my mind in three months time and then announce a comeback. People are maybe expecting a decision in the next few days, but why?

What is the rush? You are a long time retired, for now I just want to reflect on what was a truly awesome week for me, my family and hopefully all my fans as well.

Ultimately, I went to New York to fight Roy Jones Jnr in Madison Square Garden, an arena I have dreamed of fighting in since I was a kid.

It wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about titles, it was about stepping in the ring with a proper legend of the sport, just as I did six months earlier against Bernard Hopkins.

I chased Hopkins and the only guy I wanted after that was Jones. After I beat Hopkins and knew I wasn’t at my best, people pointed the finger and said he was over-the-hill.

Then Hopkins smashed Kelly Pavlik in one of his finest performances – he says his best ever – and people changed their minds.

I knew for definite that by the time I got back, I'd be reading many observers saying that Jones is finished. I totally disagree. Roy gave me a really tough fight, still has exceptionally fast hands and would have been a match for many, many great fighters. But he met the best of Joe Calzaghe.

If I had been at 70/80% like I was against Hopkins, Jones might well have beaten me, trust me, because I was on the receiving end, Roy Jones was in fantastic shape and he wanted to win badly.

I wasn’t disrespecting him by dropping my hands and my head, I needed to mix things up, I had to change things to throw him off his game, he was winning the fight after two rounds. It’s an ability I have always had and felt it paid off, but once Roy was hurt in the later rounds, I worked off the jab and kept moving equally effectively.

In Vegas I felt rubbish, my hands were worrying me, I didn’t acclimatise particularly well to the heat, humidity or the time difference and the whole build-up and some of the fight felt like a struggle.

But this time around was different. Genuinely I can say I have never enjoyed a fight week more.

New York is like a home from home for me, I love it there and we had just the perfect set-up, a nice apartment close to Central Park, out of the way, nice and low key.

When we went out to America there was only myself, dad, uncle Serge and Kerry Hope – who was a great training partner and it was a real shame his scheduled opponent didn’t get off his backside enough and missed the weight so Kerry’s fight got cancelled.

But other than that the whole week went like clockwork. I felt fit and strong, my hands held up and I enjoyed myself, sometimes I am weight drained when doing the press stuff, but I enjoyed it last week.

Fight night was simply incredible for me, right up there with the most special nights in my career.

Despite certain people shouting that the ticket sales weren’t good, we had over 14,000 in Madison Square Garden and when I came out it felt like it was full, the atmosphere was phenomenal in a venue where all the legends have fought.

Obviously, I got dropped in the first round – my memory of it starts with the referee counting 4, 5, 6 – but it added to the drama and excitement I reckon.

I have watched the fight back four or five times already and I think it is right up there with the best of my career, without doubt in the top four (alongside Eubank, Kessler and Lacy) and maybe in the top three.

I feel I proved a lot to the Americans, many of whom are incredibly ignorant of European boxing. Many of them just saw me as an overprotected white European fighter and make no mistake, race is still a big issue over there when it comes to boxing, Hopkins has been talking about it again recently. But most of them still don’t know Wales isn’t in England!

Not only will I remember the fight for a long time, but after the fight was great as well. Setanta put on a party for us and I was surrounded by friends, family – including both my boys - and some fans as well, it was the icing on the cake, having a beer and finally unwinding after months of training and promoting the fight.

Just talking about it puts a smile on my face. I am still jet-lagged and all that is on the agenda now is a rest and maybe a holiday. I would like to thank my fans again who were absolutely brilliant and if last Saturday does prove to be my last fight, it was a great way to bow out. We'll see.

* Just to clear something up, as I write this column, my girlfriend Jo Emma is sitting next to me. She is not going into the jungle on I'm a Celebrity, I don't know where that came from.