Former unified WBO, WBA, WBC super middleweight world champion Joe Calzaghe feels confident that he would have beaten Andre Ward - had the two fighters met years ago.

Calzaghe retired back in 2008, after winning a lopsided twelve round decision over Roy Jones Jr.

The Welsh superstar walked away with his undefeated record intact, 46 wins and 32 of them by knockout.

During his run, Calzaghe had key wins over Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins, Chris Eubank, Sakio Bika, Jeff Lacy and Robin Reid.

In 2008, when Calzaghe left the sport, Ward was still an up and coming contender.

He won his first world title the following year, with a breakout win over Mikkel Kessler to capture the WBA super middleweight title.

That began a streak of top wins - where Ward cleaned out 168 with victories over Sakio Bika, Allan Green, Arthur Abraham, and Calzaghe's rival Carl Froch.

Ward eventually moved up to light heavyweight, where he captured three worlds titles and ultimately retired in 2017 - with an undefeated record of 32 wins and 16 of them by knockout.

While Calzaghe feels confident of victory, he's not positive the contest would be that exciting to watch.

“I think it would have been quite tactical, I think I would outwork him, I think it would have been quite a close fight because he is very cagey, also he likes to counterpunch, I’m also a counterpuncher – I like to feint and let fighters come onto me, like the Jeff Lacy style fight," Calzaghe told British Boxers TV.

“Andre Ward is a very clever fighter, it’d be quite cagey. I’d win the fight, I think it may be a bit like the fight with Hopkins in some rounds. It’s one of them fights, I think I would have beat him on points but whether it would have been a great fight to watch – I’m not too sure.”