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István Kovács has resigned as Secretary General of the International Boxing Association (IBA), a post he has held since March of last year.
Kovács left the position following a restructuring in the IBA’s senior management, Magyar Hírlap reports, sourcing Insidethegames.biz. The 51-year-old former boxer confirmed to M1 news channel on Saturday that he had left the IBA by mutual agreement, but did not provide any details.
As an amateur, he won the bantamweight gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics and was a world champion at the 1991 World Amateur Boxing Championships in the flyweight, and at the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships in featherweight. He was a world champion as a professional, winning the WBO featherweight title in 2001.
After retiring, Kovács took up several media roles and hosted various TV shows, making him a well-known person among Hungarians to this day. He also mentored several Hungarian boxers in his former professional club, Universum.
When he was appointed last year in March, he said it was a great honor and a huge responsibility to work alongside President Umar Kremlinev as Secretary General. The World Federation, he said at the time, was going through a period of reforms that were necessary to develop boxing, a sport loved by millions of people around the world.
Ko-Ko, who has left IBA with immediate effect, has been replaced on a temporary basis by the 62-year-old George Yerolimpos, whose official title is “ad interim.” He was formerly the general secretary of the World and European Karate Federation for 16 years, is a qualified economist, and has been involved in top-level sports administration for many years.
Featured image via Zsolt Zih/MTVA