GB's Olympic boxers were led in Beijing by veteran head coach Terry Edwards

By Matt Slater

British Olympic boxing has been given an overhaul ahead of London 2012 with the formation of a new "lead body".

Responsibility for coach Terry Edwards' successful team will now pass to the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA), which is chaired by Derek Mapp.

UK Sport, the agency that funds Olympic sport, approved the move after a trying year for boxing outside the ring.

"I welcome this decision and the support UK Sport has shown for the change I am trying to make," said Mapp.

"There is enormous potential for boxing to be a real star in 2012 and beyond. My job at BABA is to ensure everything we do supports those at the sharp end: the boxers, their coaches and support teams.

This is the right solution at the right time for the sport John Steele UK Sport chief executive

As the former Sport England chairman's comments suggest, British amateur boxing's recent successes inside the ring have not been matched by peace and harmony outside it.

British boxers surpassed their Beijing target with bronze medals for light-heavyweight Tony Jeffries and super-heavyweight David Price, and a superb gold for middleweight James DeGale.

This haul followed impressive displays by Edwards' charges at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2007 World Championships. And the team Britain sent to China was the strongest to go to an Olympics from these shores for decades.

But matters outside the ropes got so bad UK Sport was forced to take emergency control of the Sheffield-based elite programme in late June. The funding body put boxing on red alert at its most recent quarterly review because of serious concerns about "governance" and "climate within the sport".

At this time, the programme was run by the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE), the governing body in the largest of the three home nations that make up the team (Northern Irish boxers compete for Ireland at the Olympics). But that situation became unworkable when Edwards' relationship with the ABAE dissolved.

Edwards played a big part in DeGale's gold-medal success in Beijing

The story in question related to welterweight Billy Joe Saunders. The 19-year-old was revealed to be under investigation by the ABAE for a "lewd incident" that occurred at a training camp in France earlier in the year. Included in the story were further allegations of indiscipline by squad members, although some of these incidents were over two years old.

The timing of this was particularly explosive as it came a day after DeGale joined Jeffries and Price in the semi-finals. Edwards, his boxers and the British Olympic Association (BOA) were furious and accused the ABAE of destabilising the team before three crucial contests.

The BOA was especially upset as the team had recovered well from a disastrous start to its Olympic campaign. First, gold medal favourite Frankie Gavin was forced to fly home after failing to make the weight, then the seven remaining boxers were given tough draws, before young prospect Joe Murray went down to a controversial points decision against a Chinese fighter.

Edwards was clearly blameless for the last two setbacks but many questioned his role in Gavin's shock exit. This added further spite to his feud with his erstwhile employers, especially ABAE chief executive Paul King.

The Liverpool-based King, who has achieved considerable success building up grass-roots boxing, has denied leaking the Saunders story but his antipathy for Edwards is irrefutable.

Saunders would ultimately be fined just �250 for what was a fairly trivial incident - the cost to British Olympic boxing could be much higher, though, as the talented welterweight is believed to be furious about the affair and may now join the professional ranks.

606: DEBATE Your thoughts on amateur boxing

Whether the veteran coach, who came to prominence when he helped a 17-year-old Amir Khan win a silver medal at the Athens Olympics, will continue remains unclear, although Mapp and UK Sport are keen for him to do so.

A priority, however, for BABA will be to appoint a performance director to oversee all aspects of the programme, leaving Edwards, should he choose to stay, to concentrate on coaching.

UK Sport's chief executive John Steele said: "This is the right solution at the right time for the sport.

"Terry Edwards and the team did a fantastic job in Beijing and they deserve to have the chance to move forward under the best possible high performance structure.

"BABA will provide a fresh start in terms of the way the sport is run. Crucially the elite end of the sport will have dedicated funding structures in place, and a new management board with a strong focus on performance and recognition of what is needed to succeed on the world stage."

That management board is comprised of two representatives each from the ABAs of England, Scotland and Wales, and will operate until March 2009 when the "Beijing cycle" of funding runs out and the London cycle begins.

The board then will be expanded to nine, with the ABA contingent reduced to three. They will be joined by Mapp, the performance director and four independent directors.

By that time the sport will hope to have received an increase on the �5m of lottery money it received for the 2005-09 period.