A new year beckons, bringing with it what is sure to be a terrific 12 months of sport in the North East. In anticipation of that EchoSport is turning the spotlight on up-and-coming sports men who are set to make their mark in 2005. In our first interview Sports Writer Paul Fraser meets teenage boxing sensation Bradley Saunders.

INSIDE the old scout hall in Fishburn, County Durham, teenage boxer Bradley Saunders slams the padlocked door behind him and walks straight over to the powerful gas fire to ignite the flames. "It's freezing in here, but it'll soon warm up," he says, after being dropped off by his father, Jeff, on a frosty December morning.

The humble home of South Durham Amateur Boxing Club has become the gym that has honed the ring skills of Saunders for the past 25 months, having spent many years before that training at the Ferryhill Fire Station and Spennymoor ABC.

But since being handed his first boxing gloves at the incredible age of two, 2005 promises to be the biggest year yet of an already glorious amateur career. Earlier this month he received a congratulatory phone call from long-term friend Amir Khan after winning gold in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Australia.

Over the coming months, however, there is a strong chance their strong friendship, built up from a large amount of time on the international circuit with England, could be put firmly to the test if Khan does indeed go for glory in the ABA Championships in February.

The Olympic silver medalist has hit the big time since returning from Athens in the summer. He has been able to retain amateur status after Sport England agreed to pay him a contract believed to be worth around £70,000-a-year. He does have an eye on turning professional but before that he could decide to fight in the ABAs, meaning the potential for a 60kg bout with Saunders would be high.

The two international teammates have grown up together on the circuit but have only met each other once before. Khan won by just three points seven years ago, when both 11-year-olds were just feeling their way in the sport.

"Things would be different now, that's for sure," explained Saunders. "I honestly do think that if we were to get in the ring together now I would give him a good fight. It would be close. I've got no doubts about that.

"I fought over my weight at the Commonwealths and I still won. They were big lads out there and I'm trying to come down to 60kg so that I can fight at that weight in the ABAs. When I spoke to Amir recently he told me he thinks he's going to be there."

If that is the case, Saunders sees that as an opportunity to take his profile onto a completely different level. By facing Khan, touted as one of the sport's most promising talents for decades and being followed closely by the BBC, one of the North-East's leading young boxing hopes wouldn't mind a taste of something similar.

"Amir has too much to lose by going to the World Championships," said the Sedgefield teenager. "Imagine where he is now and then imagine where he would be if he was to lose at such an event. He has everything to lose.

"If he does go to the ABAs and if I was to fight him I would have absolutely nothing to lose. I'm going to concentrate on those finals because by doing well there, if Amir is there, it could be really worth my while."

During his time on the circuit, Saunders has amassed 110 trophies. "Not that I'm counting," he said. The majority of those are in the loft at the family home while his international honours all take pride of place in the living room, alongside his younger brother Jeff's 30 or so.

As well as the gold he claimed in Australia last month, he has also achieved five ABAs, four schoolboy titles, gold at the multi-nations in Poland earlier this year and he is ranked fourth in the world.

Saunders will turn professional himself one day. If he wanted to he claims he could sign a deal now with Dave Garside's increasingly reputable stable, which includes British super-bantamweight belt holder Michael Hunter.

However, the success of Khan has also helped Saunders on the financial front

Sport England's involvement now means that highly-rated young sportsmen/women can be given financial support and that has ensured neither has had to turn to the pro game just yet.

Saunders, wearing his England fleece and Reebok trainers, said: "I get all sorts from them. It's great really because I don't have to worry about clothes or equipment. I am provided with trainers, tracksuits and I have also had top of the range Greenhill boxing gloves.

"It's good to know that I am getting money in and I'm doing what I love. It saves me from having to work while trying to get better at boxing because if I did have to work I wouldn't be able to dedicate as much time to it as I do now."

Saunders hopes to top his success in the Commonwealth Youth Games by going to the tournament's full-blown equivalent in Melbourne 2006. To do that and to achieve everything he wants before that he has an extremely strict training schedule that his father, Jeff, makes him stick to.

He makes his way to the Fishburn gym three times a day. He will have a run in the morning, a bags and pads session in the afternoon before sparring in the ring in the evening. Inbetween that he finds the time to help some of the other South Durham members develop their talent.

"The kids all look up to Bradley," said his mother Tracey. "He quite often goes back to his old school, Sedgefield Community College, to show the children his medals and what he has been up to. They think it's great what he has been doing."

One lasting memory of his career was his trip to Korea for the World Championships. He went out in the quarter finals to hard-hitting Cuban Eddie Florez - his last defeat - form which has attracted local sponsorship from John Adamson, of Ramside Estates, and Woodcrest Developments, from Sedgefield.

"It was an incredible experience. The competition was held on Paradise Island and it was just the coming together of a load of nations," said Saunders, who boasts a record of just six defeats in 87 fights. "Just being there helped me a great deal.

"I was thinking the other day - if I had one of those big maps and I put a pin in every country I had fought in I would be able to play dot to dot."

Australia, New Zealand, Russia, United States, Poland, Germany, France, Korea and South Africa have all had the pleasure of Saunders' company but a date with Khan in London could be the one that propels the Durham destroyer on to his biggest stage yet.