• Steve Bunce

Domestic dust-ups on the horizon

Tyson Fury may move on to bigger things in 2012 after beating Dereck Chisora last summer © PA Photos

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Our weekly boxing columnist Steve Bunce looks into his crystal ball and pulls out the top British clashes that could be on the agenda over the next 12 months.

Heavyweight

The ideal start to the year would be that two of Dereck Chisora, Tyson Fury and David Price have at least agreed terms to fight at some point. Fury fights some time in March; Chisora fights Vitali Klitschko in February and Price takes on big John McDermott in a British title eliminator on January 21. There needs to be at least some kind of verbal agreement for two of them to fight because it would be a crying shame if it goes another six months.

Chisora lost to Fury already. Fury looks like he could be the one who turns his back slightly on the domestic scene, leaving Chisora and Price, who is the lesser known of the three. The danger is Price - he's the unknown quantity in many ways because he has not had any hype. Losing to him (he's only had 11 fights) would be seen as a semi-backward step and losing to him is a real possibility. We've seen with Fury's fights he can, in theory, get beaten by anybody, and he can beat anybody. That's one big problem with Fury and it is also part of his attraction. If Chisora beats Klitschko he'll look past everybody but if he loses, and the bookies think he will, then he can fight any of those two. I hope we see some of these fights; I doubt we'll get all three though.

Super-middleweight

Carl Froch is the more experienced fighter, but what's the point in him fighting IBF king Lucian Bute in Montreal - I think that would be the sixth time in seven fights Froch would have fought on the road. What's the point in that? James DeGale fought and lost to George Groves in May, and yet more Brits paid to see that fight than have forked out to see Carl Froch in his last six fights. Horrible stat, but true.

A domestic match-up between Froch and either DeGale or Groves makes sense. No-one apart from a few thousand boxing fans know who Lucian Bute is. What are you going to get on the back of a newspaper? A Romanian who's based in Canada or James DeGale and his big mouth or George Groves, with his win over James DeGale. They'll be considered super fights and they'll be worth as much. Froch starts as favourite, makes good money and finally raises his profile.

I see DeGale and Groves squeezing into the world title scene somewhere; maybe getting hold of Mikkel Kessler, assuming he wins a title soon, and maybe fighting each other in November. I can't see Joe Calzaghe - the former undefeated super-middleweight champion - coming out of retirement and fighting Carl Froch because he'd never make the weight. Calzaghe coming back would only be a freak show now.

Middleweight

If Matthew Macklin can beat Sergio Martinez in March then he'll move above home rivals Darren Barker and Martin Murray. Murray's obviously chasing WBA title-holder Felix Sturm for a rematch, and rightly so, after their clash in December ended in a draw.

Matthew Macklin fell agonisingly short in his bid to become WBA middleweight champion, losing a split decision against Felix Sturm in June © Getty Images

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Darren Barker is the interesting one; Eddie Hearn is trying to get hold of Daniel Geale for the IBF middleweight title. Ironically Barker could have had a fight with the former champion Sebastian Sylvester but didn't fancy it, didn't want it, the money wasn't right - take your pick from any of those excuses. In the end Geale fought Sylvester and, with Syvlester at the end of his career, he managed to win the title. Barker and Murray could fight; Murray and Macklin would work. Macklin and Barker is the big one though. These three are destined to go any way. It doesn't make any difference if Macklin loses to Martinez; he still comes back for a Barker fight - Barker just lost to Martinez. Three fights here; I doubt any of them will happen.

Murray will be up for going into Sturm's back yard, he got a draw last time in Germany. The biggest liars in the world are the fighters that say they're fighting for the belt - for the title. That's complete rubbish. They do it for the money. If he can get £25,000 for fighting in Germany he'd do it, if he gets £30,000 for fighting in Felix Sturm's mother's kitchen he'd do it; it's the way it works, trust me.

Lightweight

We have three good lightweights: Ricky Burns, Kevin Mitchell and John Murray. Mitchell's already beaten Murray but Murray needs to come back and avenge that loss - he was really unhappy that his head was all over the place and his preparations were wrong. I hope it happens again, Murray should definitely be recycled against Burns, there was no shame in losing against WBA champion Brandon Rios; Murray went out on his shield in the 11th round, with both eyes closed shut. Mitchell's back in February against unbeaten Irishman Stephen Ormond and will need to stay busy to keep his nose clean and to stay focused. Assuming he does he could have a big fight against Burns, and Murray could join the mix after that.

On his day, Mitchell is the best of the three but Burns is up there because he's 1000% consistent. Murray is underneath his domestic rivals but he has the most to prove. Mitchell is the joker and the ace in the lightweight pack. He could go missing again or he could produce brilliant performances. Burns is the best lightweight - not necessarily the best fighter, but he's the best in terms of consistency.

Steve Bunce is co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption show. Click here for more details

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