The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has elected Gafur Rahimov as its new president following elections held at the 2018 AIBA Congress in Moscow on Saturday.
Rahimov, a businessman from Uzbekistan beat his closest rival Serik Konakbayev, a retired amateur boxer from Kazakhstan, with a 86 majority vote out of 137 voting members.
In his acceptance speech, the 67 year-old sports administrator thanked the AIBA family for their trust and allowing him to continue leading the organisation.
His words: “Today (Saturday) has been a great day for AIBA and it represents an important step forward for boxing.
“I am honored to have been elected as the President of AIBA and I want to thank the AIBA family for their trust and for allowing me to continue leading this great organization.
“I am confident that, together with my new AIBA Executive Committee members, the AIBA staff and the national federations, we will be able to continue on the progress made in bringing boxing into a brand new era.”
Rahimov has been Vice President of AIBA since 1998 and his critics claims he has ties with organised crime with the US Department of the Treasury slamming financial sanctions on him and his associates in 2012.