Joe Calzaghe and Darren Barker start management group

Former world champion boxers Joe Calzaghe and Darren Barker are starting a sports management company.

Calzaghe, boxing's longest reigning super middleweight champion and Barker, an IBF middleweight champion, are heading International Sports Group.

"We have experienced the ups and downs of boxing, the highs and lows," Barker said. "We want to help fighters."

Calzaghe says the time is right for him to return to boxing after he struggled after the death of his parents.

"Timing is everything," he told BBC Sport Wales.

Calzaghe, 49, who held the WBO super middleweight title for over 10 years, first got his management licence in 2016, having previously tried boxing promotion with his father Enzo.

One of Wales' greatest sporting stars, Calzaghe says he has struggled to find the right fit since his retirement from boxing.

"For me it was retiring at the top, on my terms, but what do you do next?," he said.

"I struggled. It is difficult."

The death of Enzo, who trained Joe for his entire career, in 2018 and Joe's mother Jackie, in 2020 have led to a difficult period for Calzaghe, who is keen to honour his father as he remains in the sport.

The famous Newbridge Boxing Club, from which his father trained three world champions, remains open, having been renovated in 2019.

Joe's sons Joe Jr and Connor now run the gym where Enzo, a self-taught boxing coach who was also a musician, trained Calzaghe, Enzo Maccarinelli and Gavin Rees to world title honours.

"My dad instilled that hard work in me, I want to keep his legacy alive," Calzaghe said. His gym is still alive and he guided my career and now we can do that for other boxers.

"We want to give our best to fighters to steer their careers in the right direction.

"My dad was passionate about boxers not getting what they deserve, boxers can have bad times in their careers and that happened to me, especially when it felt like I was injured all the time.

"There were times I thought I'd have to retire and get a day job."

Joe Calzaghe and Darren Barker were both decorated amateur boxers as well as world champions as professionals

'We miss the sport, we miss the journey'

Barker, who won 26 of 28 professional fights, retired in 2014 aged 31 because of a hip injury.

The 39-year-old, who won British, European and Commonwealth titles and took gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, has been boxing since a young age, with his father Terry a successful amateur.

International Sports Group is receiving financial backing from Australian property developer David Rothwell and Barker says he is returning to boxing because he misses it and feels he and Calzaghe can offer a lot to fighters.

"I want to be sat ringside, watching our fighter win a world title," he said.

"We miss the sport, we miss the journey, there are a lot of good people in boxing with boxers' best interests at heart, but there are a lot who aren't like that.

"We respect the sport. With our contacts and ambition and love for the sport, we have all the ingredients to be successful.

"Boxing has been my life. I don't want to get in the ring again, but I miss seeing that arm raised.

"I'm one of the most content former boxers, but I miss competing so much.

"Helping other fighters will be fulfilling for us."