By Mark Staniforth

Chances are that if, a year ago, you had marked Andrew Selby down as one of Great Britain's best Olympic boxing medal prospects, you would have been accused of taking too many blows to the head.

The Welsh flyweight had suffered a dismal year, losing in the Commonwealth Games to bitter rival Haroon Khan, then dropping a decision to Tommy Stubbs in the GB Championship finals in Liverpool.

Beset by weight worries, it seemed much more likely that Selby would be forced to give up his Olympic dream and ease into the professional ranks - particularly as Khalid Yafai looked a shoo-in for the 52kg Olympic slot.

But something clearly stirred in Selby at the start of 2011, and it was something so spectacular it almost resulted in him sweeping the board of major international honours, as well as eclipsing Yafai for the flyweight spot.

First, Selby skated to the European title in Turkey, improving on a previous record of two bronze medals in the same competition, before coming agonisingly close to adding the world title later in the year in Baku.

Selby was beaten by a single point in the final by Russian world number one Misha Aloyan, denying him 2012 qualification until he came home to comprehensively beat Yafai and finally earn his ticket to the London Games.

A painfully shy 23-year-old from Barry, he is unlikely to present much of a poster boy image in the Olympic build-up, but must nevertheless be regarded as one of Team GB's best bets for gold.

A lightning-fast, back-foot fighter who darts in to throw punches in clusters, Selby has clearly mastered the new amateur scoring system quicker than most, and it is paying spectacular dividends.

With his confidence sky-high, and with such a consistent year behind him, Selby will probably start favourite even in such a notoriously tough weight division at which so many of the Asian nations in particular excel.

In a stellar year for the Selby family, Andrew's brother Lee ended the year the British and Commonwealth featherweight champion. For Andrew, next year promises to get even better.

Mark Staniforth covers boxing for PA Sport.