By Scott Gilfoid: It’s been a terrible year for British fighters in 2011. They’ve either been losing or in some cases being held to draws but still going home with no title belt. It all started so well for them at the beginning of the year with David Haye, Amir Khan, Darren Barker, John Murray, Dereck Chisora, Martin Murray, Brian Magee, Ryan Rhodes, Matthew Macklin, Carl Froch and Matthew Hatton giving British fans bragging rights.

But my things have changed for the worse. Froch was the latest one to get beat, losing a 12 round decision to Andre Ward in the Super Six tournament and not looking particularly good. I mean let’s be real here. Froch looked terrible, like someone with a lot of dead fast twitch nerve fiber in his arms in getting beaten to the punch all night long by Ward. Out of the kindness of my heart I gave Froch one round of the 12 round fight but that was the only mercy I could give him.

It was bad to watch and sad to see Froch going out of the Super Six tournament with a whimper instead of a bang. I would have liked to have seen him fight tooth and nail from the very start instead of waiting until the last three rounds to finally ignite his jets. Froch said later he should have listened to his trainer Rob McCracken to start early and really go after Ward. You think? The whole world was telling Froch to do this and yet he tried to box a boxer and got whipped.

Here are the Brits that have come up losers or who have failed to win in 2011:

Amir Khan – whipped by Lamont Peterson by a 12 round decision
John Murray – Stopped in the 11th round by Brandon Rios in December.
Martin Murray – fought to a gift 12 round draw against WBA middleweight champion Felix Sturm
Ryan Rhodes – destroyed by Saul Alvarez in the 12th round in June
Dereck Chisora – beaten by Robert Helenius by a 12 round decision in December
Carl Froch – dominated by Andre Ward in a one-sided 12 round decision loss in December
Brian Magee – stopped in the 10th round by IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute
Matthew Macklin – lost a 12 round decision to WBA champ Felix Sturm in June
David Haye – lost a lopsided 12 round decision to IBF/WBO heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko

That’s eight Brits that have failed to bring in the big wins in 2011 when they needed to. There are still a couple of champions from Britain. Ricky Burns recently won the WBO lightweight interim title after moving up in weight just when he was cornered by Adrien Broner at super featherweight. I think it goes without saying that Burns’ name would have been on the aforementioned list if he hadn’t bailed from the super featherweight division to move up in weight.

WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly is the sole full champion from Britain. Cleverly is still winning but still hasn’t faced anyone yet. He’s being kept on training wheels for some reason. He’ll no doubt lose once he’s allowed to coast on his own. Look for his name on the 2012 list if he fights anyone decent instead of the soft opposition that’s been routinely fed to him.