By Ben Dirs

"My writing is heavily influenced by the Beatles, with a lot of minor chords. But I can write stupid songs as well - and England, Oh England is a classic Vindaloo job."

Ours has got all the players in it and you can sing it with a lager in your hand. But I should still be up for impersonating a musician

You meet a lot of barking people in boxing, and being a Welsh-Italian chap who has written an England World Cup song makes Enzo Calzaghe pretty barking.

"I'm safe in Wales, because Italians change sides quickly," says Enzo, whose day job is trainer to boxing's hottest property, his son and super middleweight king Joe.

"If this song goes flat, I'll start supporting France, if that goes wrong, I'll start supporting Germany. No, seriously, I'm a manic Italy fan. But, between you and me, I've put a bet on England to win the World Cup."

The fact Enzo Calzaghe has written an England World Cup song is pretty weird - but it gets weirder: England, Oh England is co-written by Enzo's brothers Sergio and Uccio - and former light heavyweight world champion Glenn McCrory.

Which conjures images of the Calzaghe clan and McCrory (known collectively as The Crowd) gathered round Enzo's Bontempi organ, arguing over whether to use the happy-house or trip-hop preset on their magnum opus.

"Glenn wrote some of the lines," explains Enzo. "We didn't want a classical ballad, like Embrace (who are responsible for England's official World Cup anthem).

"I don't know what that is - it's nothing to do with the World Cup. Ours has got all the players in it and you can sing it with a lager in your hand. But I should still be up for impersonating a musician.

"I gave a copy to a kid down the bookies and bumped into him the next day and he said, 'Enzo, what the hell did you give me last night?'

"And I said, 'what's the problem?' I thought I'd given him a dodgy tip. But he said, 'last night, I couldn't sleep. I had to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning to put some more CDs on'.

"I said, 'why's that?' And he said, to get that song out of my head! All he could hear all night was 'England, Oh England!' So at least it's a catchy tune."

Enzo is actually pretty serious about his music, as befits a man who has gigged since he was 13 and once played with '80s legend Paul Young.

And he reckons music provides the perfect release from the suffocating world of professional boxing.

"I was brought up in music. All we used to do in Italy was play football, box or sing all day," says Enzo.

"My passion is writing - I find it very good therapy. Boxing is a stressful world and my remedy is music."

I've had a listen to England, Oh England and, to be fair, it's better than Embrace's World At Your Feet. But then I reckon I could knock out a better World Cup song than Embrace's on a set of spoons.

Kevin King, who published Enzo's song, sums it up best when he says: "It's far superior to Embrace's effort. It's the best of a bad bunch - a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest."