It was the Aussies - among others - who sneered that these days we Brits win most of our Olympic medals on our backsides - sitting in boats or on bikes. That may have seemed so in Athens and Beijing but in 2012 it could be that our rowers and cyclists will be challenged in the medal table by the fist, the foot and a bit of grip and grapple.

Looking at recent results it seems we may well excel in the ring and on the mat with boxers and competitors in both taekwondo and judo impressively collecting honours in prestigious international tournaments in the past few weeks.

Taekwondo, aka the way of the fist and the foot, is a boom sport here at the moment. Britons have returned with a golden haul from the US Open in Austin Texas, featherweight Mark Stamper 24, and lightweight Jade Jones - a Youth Olympic champion in Singapore last year at only 17 - both snatched senior titles in a squad of 10 who produced six medals overall.

In fact Jones moved up a weight to win her gold at under 62kg after getting a bronze at under 57kg.

It was the first time Jones had fought in the upper weight division, and all her opponents were considerably heavier than herself. Some performance.

Taekwondo is one sport that is getting it right in the arena and out.

And now judo, which has considerably under-achieved in recent Olympics, now seems to be picking itself up off the mat, a number of decent results of late culminating in 21-year-old Londoner Ashley McKenzie winning gold at under 60kg in the Polish World Cup over the weekend, beating some of the world’s highest ranking players.

This has followed silver and bronze medals for Gemma Howell and Euan Burton respectively in corresponding World Cups in Korea and Japan.

But the most distinguished achievementshave come from Britain’s boxers, who have won ten medals in major tournaments in Hungary and Bulgaria, including three golds for the men and a bronze for Natasha Jones (pictured) who, with Savannah Marshall, is looking a genuine podium prospect when women’s boxing makes its Olympic debut in London.

Which brings us to the vexing times that amateur boxing is currently experiencing. with the ABA of England now under siege from a number of disaffected elements both within and outside the organisation. We reported recently how, following information from a "whistleblower" to Sport England, an independent enquiry is currently being conducted into the financial affairs of the ABAE. This was compounded by news that Anthony Joshua, a leading contender for the super heavyweight berth in the GB team for London is up on a drugs charge, accused of possession of an illegal substance with intent to supply.

Although not yet on the podium squad - he is a member of the development unit - talented Joshua, 21, is the current ABA and GB champion and has beaten the man considered number one at the moment, Fraser Clarke.

At the same time we revealed that the ABAE President, the former Sports Minister Richard Caborn has ordered another investigation, this time into unrelated allegations that an illegal substance (cannabis) was smoked during an ABA training camp for young women in Bradford two years ago, and was hushed up.

This is a curious business but nonetheless a serious one if proven, for the girls at the camp were all aged 17 or under.

Why has it taken so long to come to light is puzzling but Caborn who was handed a dossier on the alleged incident by a former ABA council member promises: "I will sort it."

Now I have some sympathy for the ABA; the chairman Keith Walters is a decent, dedicated bloke, well-respected in sporting circles and Caborn himself, who was an able sports minister certainly has the good of the game at heart.

But the ABAE is under pressure, with UK Sport for some time in the past having been concerned that the organisation was not up to scratch in its back-room progress towards 2012.

This has been alleviated to a large extent by the formation of the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA) under the chairmanship of former Sport England chief, Derek Mapp, a skilled political and commercial operator.

The BABA has assumed overall responsibility for Olympic preparation and the results speak for themselves.

Based at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield under performance director Robert McCracken - and ex-pro title contender and top trainer who replaced the controversially axed and highly regarded Terry Edwards - both men and women are shaping up promisingly towards the Olympic goal.

It is quite possible, if these impressive results continue, that the record medal return of Beijing (one gold and two bronze) could be exceeded.

There are some outstanding prospects in the elite squad, among them the current European bantamweight champion, Luke Campbell, who with Anthony Ogogo (middleweight) and Fred Evans (welterweight), won gold in two international competitions in Hungary and Bulgaria respectively against some pretty serious opposition.

When you talk to the boxers they enthuse about the Sheffield set-up. Scouser scrapper Tom Stalker, who captained England in the Commonwealth Games and is a European silver medallist at lightweight, tells me: "The coaches are great. It’s the best atmosphere I’ve ever known. There’s no favouritism and we all get on famously. But this year it’s going to be crunch time.

"Its very competitive in our squad - there are virtually two of us fighting for our place at every weight division. My great rival is the Repton boy, Martin Ward, a brilliant boxer. What I’ve got to do is keep my form and make sure I’m the one who’s selected.

"We’ve got the European and World Championships coming up this year which are important for qualifying for the Olympics so we have to keep, our toes."

It is no only the current boxers who are impressed by the Sheffield scenario. Stalker’s great pal is Frankie Gavin, Britain’s only world amateur champion who has now won all nine pro fights. He says: "They’ve got some terrific boxers there. I particularly like Tom and Luke , they’re brilliant. We could get a few medals in London. I was sorry when Terry Edwards left but I am pleased to hear that he is going to be involved with the Games (as Boxing Operations Manager for the 2012 tournament Edwards will be responsible for organising the event). That speaks for the reputation he has. But I am not taking anything away from his successor Rob McCracken - he’s doing a great job."

Indeed he is, but one of the big worries at the moment for the ABA, apart from the internecine ‘whistleblowing’ is the apparently fractious relationship with international governing body AIBA.

This follows the action of chief executive Paul King in attempting an unsuccessful coup against the immensely powerful Dr CK Wu, the head-honcho of AIBA. It has incurred the wrath not only of Dr Wu but his powerful henchmen.

There has been talk of AIBA "punishing" the ABAE and it may - or may not - have been significant that last week a team from Bulgaria due to compete against England boxers at Basingstoke withdrew at short notice. The rumour was that they had been pressured by AIBA whose Korean chief executive Ho Kim stopped off in London last week to reveal that he had received a letter from Caborn allegedly distancing the ABAE from King’s action.

Caborn denies that this is how his missive should be interpreted. He was merely pointing out, he says, that while the ABA were not asked to support King, he was perfectly entitled to challenge Dr Wu as an individual member of AIBA and one of its European representatives.

Of course this is so. Liverpudlian King is a long-serving, hard working and extremely knowledgeable wheeler-dealer. He is also internationally ambitious. Nothing wrong in that but whether it was prudent at this stage to challenge the high and mighty Dr Wu - and he claims to have had the backing of several other nations who are also being threatened with punitive action - is surely questionable. It is rather like the chief executive of the English FA trying to dislodge Sepp Blatter on his own initiative.

Under ABA regulations the job of chief executive has to be re-advertised after a set term. This is happening and the moment and a number of candidates have been interviewed, with King among them this week. He remains a clear favourite to stay in the post.

The latest development in this saga of sock is that some of the disaffected entities within the sport, having been refused an extraordinary general meeting this Saturday have called an "informal" meeting of their own to make their views known. It is being led by the Police Boxing Association.

Let’s make it clear that our only agenda is for amateur boxing to flourish and for GB to have a a great Olympics.

Fortunately the good things that are happening are outweighing the bad and on the fighting front GB’s boxers can look forward to next year’s Games 2012 with vigour, hope and confidence. The occasional bloody nose along the way is an occupational hazard of the sport but this messy extra-mural business I must be sorted soon because nothing can be allowed to undermine Britain’s 2012 ring of confidence.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Olympics, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.