A Cumbrian venue is looking forward to welcoming boxing legend Joe Calzaghe next Thursday.

Fans will be coming from the Carlisle, Gretna, Newcastle and Barrow areas to see the undefeated super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion in person (7.30pm start).

The Welsh boxer retired in 2009 and is one of the few world champions, who finished his career undefeated with a remarkable record of 46 wins out of 46 fights, racking up 32 wins by knockout.

Before Calzaghe retired in 2007, he also claimed the 2007 BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, becoming the first Welsh winner of the Sports Personality of the Year award since 1960 at the time.

Following his retirement from boxing, Calzaghe started his own boxing promotion company called Calzaghe Promotions with his father, Enzo, and he featured in the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2009.

He partnered Russian professional Kristina Rihanoff who he began a relationship with, before the couple split in 2013 and that could prove a topic of conversation on the night.

The evening will take place at Whitehaven Golf Club, with comedian Greg Cook and MC John Lebbon also on the bill.

Lebbon, a sports presenter on That’s Manchester TV and a former rugby league player with both Whitehaven and Workington and now a stand-up comedian, gave an update on how preparations for the night have been going.

“We are probably looking to sell another 10 tickets before the event to reach the 200-mark,” he said.

“I cannot wait. We have people coming from all over for the event and there has been quite a lot of interest.”

Lebbon feels sports fans have a lot more respect for boxers, than they do for footballers.

He said: “Everyone has respect for boxers, they demand a little bit more respect because everyone looks at footballers and thinks ‘I can do that’ when they are watching.

“But it is not like that with boxers.

“Boxing is a bit weird because they don’t do anything really for months and their reward is to get punched in the face.”