Boxing is often revered as being violent and barbaric. In many ways it is not too far removed from the Coliseum and the Gladiators in Rome. However, others see it as the most glorious of contests, and whoever has their hand held aloft in the centre of the ring is a hero.

After witnessing the recent epic struggle between Carl Froch and Jean Pascal, I have been fully converted, and cannot wait for what should be a very exciting year for British boxing.

Firstly there is the ‘old guard’: Joe Calzaghe and Ricky Hatton. It is yet to be seen what Calzaghe’s next step will be and in many ways he  shouldn’t fight again: his record is 45-0; he has been one of the longest-reigning world champions of recent years, holding the WBO super-middleweight belt for 10 years; and he has now started promoting his own events.

Any fight will have to make the Welshman big bucks, with perhaps a rematch against Roy Jones Jnr. or Bernard Hopkins at light-heavyweight  the most likely option before his eventual retirement.

For Hatton, on the other hand, 2009 looks much more exciting. After good wins against Americans Juan Lazcano and Paulie Malignaggi, The Hitman seemingly has options as to who to fight. Manny Pacquiao, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter at the moment, could be a possible opponent in the Philippines or the US. Or his victim towards the end of year – Oscar de la Hoya – could come over to the UK with much talk about a summer stadium fight at either Eastlands, Hatton’s beloved Manchester City ground, or Wembley Stadium in London.

Enter the new guard: As already mentioned, Nottingham’s finest, Carl ‘the Cobra’ Froch, has an exciting year ahead of him. Having claimed a world title, he now has the opportunity to become a marquee fighter. A possible contest against Jermaine Taylor, Lucien Bute or even Mikkel Kessler has been mentioned but a British showdown on the scale of Benn v Eubank is what he hopes for with a bout against Calzaghe.

Equally, David Haye has already managed to catapult his way to the top of the heavyweight division after defeating Enzo Maccarinelli to unify the world cruiserweight belts, and then making the step up a division to knock out Monte Barrett.

Haye, who promotes himself under Haymaker Promotions, is a character the heavyweight division has been lacking. His confidence and charm are endearing, as he has managed to entice Vitali Klitschko into a fight which will take place in June somewhere in London.

Calzaghe against Froch would be the highlight of any British boxing fan's year, possibly at the City Ground in Nottingham or at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. After all of the sledging that has gone between the two, there would be no love lost and both men would stretch their heart and soul to the limit.

However, with Calzaghe having so much to lose in this contest, I don’t see it happening. Rather, he will take another fight at light-heavy against a weak but big-name boxer such as Roy Jones Jnr. and slip into retirement.

Froch will probably have to make do with a fight to tie him over, perhaps against Jeff Lacy or Anthony Mundane, which would hopefully set up a big fight at the end of the year once he is better known by the American public.

As for Hatton, I think a fight at Wembley against de la Hoya is too good a prospect to turn down, and he should win it. Haye is the most interesting of the four; his position is not unjustified, but his mouth has got him a long way – which is brilliant.

I would love to see the Hayemaker defeat Klitschko to set up a fight against his brother Vladimir and spark some life into the heavyweight division. But we will have to see if the Brit can pull off an amazing victory in the summer.