SADLY the final bell has sounded for Enzo Calzaghe – one of the greatest boxing trainers of all time and without doubt the biggest character in Gwent sport.

The Sardinian-born adopted Welshman was never a fighter himself and had no real history in the sport before he took his nine-year-old son to the local gym in Newbridge.

Joe, who was being bullied at school, took to boxing immediately.

And Enzo, who had previously scraped together a living as a busker and a bus conductor, soon began to help out his trainer Paul Williams before taking over the running of Newbridge Boxing Club.

Together father and son conquered the world with Joe winning all 46 fights as a professional between 1993 and 2008 and ending his career as an undefeated two-weight world champion.

South Wales Argus:

Joe is considered one of the greatest boxers Britain has ever produced but for a long time Enzo’s contribution to the remarkable success story was unfairly denigrated.

His critics suggested that the potty-mouthed Italian had struck it lucky but they had to eat their words when Enzo trained both Enzo Maccarinelli and Gavin Rees (below) to world titles from a run-down shack in the Gwent valleys.

South Wales Argus:

Team Calzaghe produced a host of fabulous fighters with future world champ Nathan Cleverly also starting out within the stable.

Gary Lockett and Bradley Pryce also brought back belts to Newbridge and the man at the centre of everything was the Godfather.

It’s been nearly a decade since the gym’s heyday and Joe’s retirement but Enzo has left a lasting legacy and, even though he’s left us far too soon, his family can look back on a life well lived.