By James McFarlane: So, the major fights of the year from a British point of view are all in the books. It is fair to say 2010 is year that has been packed with a fair bit of drama, controversy, success, delight and progress. Very rarely has there been a dull moment and in this article I’ll be taking a look back at the key talking points from the four current British World Champions, Ricky Burns, Carl Froch, Amir Khan and David Haye.

Ricky Burns – 2010 has been a fairly busy year for Ricky Burns, but a great year also. First of all, I think it is great that Scotland has a new world champion. Ricky won the WBO Super Featherweight title in a cracking fight against Roman Martinez on 4th September. Recovering from a first round knockdown to win shows a lot of heart and commitment. I do fear that Ricky lacks that cutting edge and excitement for him to truly break into the big time though. He’s just not a big enough puncher and this may end up being his undoing in 2011 as he looks to kick on. I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t see Ricky still being a world champion this time next year.

Carl Froch – Carl started and ended 2010 as WBC Super Middleweight champion, but had to live without his belt for a few months. Carl will disagree, but there is no way he beat Mikkel Kessler. Yes it was close, but he didn’t win. Having said that, when he fought Arthur Abraham there was little doubt as to who the winner was. That was pretty much a boxing master class from Carl Froch and it has tee’d up an enticing 2011. Still committed to the Super Six tournament, Froch’s next 12 months are virtually planned already. A victory over Glen Johnson will no doubt set up a big fight against Andre Ward in the Super Six Final. Victory over Ward will be a tough but not certainly not impossible ask for Froch. Should he be successful in the Super Six, I’d personally like to see Froch sign with some bigger promoters and be rewarded with much more lucrative UK TV contracts. Carl has achieved a lot without being in the public eye too much. Success in 2011 could change that.

Amir Khan – 2010 is the year that Khan arrived in the USA. He was criticized (wrongly in my opinon) for taking the fight against Pauli Malignaggi and it was pretty much seen as a no win fight for Khan as he was expected to win. However, people must remember that Khan’s USA debut was against a former world champion in his own back yard. Couple that with a very impressive TKO performance and that, to me, is a great way to arrive in the USA. Then we have the Maidana fight… Wow! This is when Amir Khan proved that he truly was world class. This fight had it all and Khan proved that he has a good chin, taking Maidana’s biggest shots, surviving a disastrous 10th round to fully deserve his victory. Khan clearly out-boxed Maidana (for the majority of the fight), who was very lucky to make it past the first round, but showed that he too will one day be a deserving world champion. 2011 is interesting for Khan. For me his next fight should be the winner of Bradley and Alexander, not Ortiz, Judah or Peterson which has unfortunately been suggested. If he is successful in unifying the division he can then think about stepping up to Welterweight straightaway. Before even thinking about Mayweather though I’d like to see him take on one of the other Welterweights, maybe Guzman, Clottey or even Berto. One thing is for certain though; Amir Khan is now officially world class.

David Haye – 2 successful fights for the Hayemaker in 2010, but more significantly, no Klitschko. Haye received some criticism for fighting John Ruiz in April but Ruiz was the mandatory challenger and a former world champion himself. It was a good performance by Haye and he certainly showed his power against such a durable fighter. For his next fight against Audley Harrision, the less said the better. Everyone (surely) knew that Haye would KO Harrison, and most people also knew that Harrison would freeze again. The only good thing to come of this fight for Haye was a good training camp to keep him active. I would suggest however that a training camp was not necessarily needed for a fight against Harrison. 2011 plans should be straightforward for David Haye… fight the Klitschko’s. I’m a big Haye fan but failure to secure a fight with a Klitschko in his next fight may just result in people losing interest. I personally feel that the Klitschko’s are as much to blame as David Haye in this debacle but the fights need to happen. The one thing I would criticize Haye for is the issue around his retirement date. It is fair enough that he wants to retire soon but rather than set a date for it he should just say that he wants 2 more fights before retiring, one against Wladimir and one against Vitali. Unify the division and then pack up, this is what he needs to do and the dates should be irrelevant. Failure to secure these fights and all three of their legacies shall be tarnished.

So 2010 has been a good year for British boxing and 2011 looks set to be a good one worldwide!