Joe Calzaghe has rejected the notion of coming out of retirement to face Carl Froch but says he would have beaten him comfortably in his prime.

Calzaghe reigned as the best 168-pound fighter in the world in the mid-2000s before hanging up the gloves just as Froch was emerging as a genuine threat.

Last week Froch, 42, called out Calzaghe again but the ‘Welsh Dragon’ laughed off the idea of returning to the ring to face his old domestic rival.

“It’s mad, I’m still living in his head after all these years,” he told talkSPORT. “I’ve done everything you can achieve in boxing.

“I’m 48 and I’ve been retired 10 years, I’m happy with my career.

“When I was at my peak, I’d have been too fast and too sharp for him.

“I think I’d have beaten any super middleweight, maybe not Roy Jones Jr at his peak.”

The Welsh southpaw won the vacant WBO super middleweight title against Chris Eubank in 1997 and defended the belt a remarkable 21 times over the following decade.

He scored a signature win over big-punching American Jeff ‘Left Hook’ Lacy in 2006 to add the IBF belt to his collection and picked up Mikkel Kessler’s WBC and WBA straps the following year.

Calzaghe made his US debut against first-ballot Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins in 2008. He survived a first-round knockdown to win a split decision and claim the Ring Magazine light heavyweight championship.

His final bout against another Hall of Famer in Roy Jones Jr again saw him on the canvas in the opening frame before earning a wide points win at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden.

“After the fight with Mikkel Kessler I knew that was the end,” said Calzaghe, who retired undefeated with a record of 46-0 (32) after a glittering 15-year career.

“I spoke to my dad and said I wanted to fight Bernard Hopkins, who was Ring Magazine champion, to leave a legacy.

“What mattered wasn’t someone piping up, there are always contenders, it was going to America and I did that.”