Hobbs will serve a four-year term and replaces former British Sports Minister Richard Caborn, who stepped down from the role in September last year, following months of upheaval in the organisation.

Caborn left his position as chairman after just over a year in the job after instigating a series of changes to "modernise" the structure of boxing's governing body in England, which led to much infighting and disputes.

The main thrust behind the modernisation process was to bring the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) - now called Boxing England - into line with International Boxing Association (AIBA) statutes and rules while also aiming to protect its £5 million ($8 million/€6 million) funding from Sport England.

Caborn's last act was to appoint a new ABAE Board which was eventually ratified at an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) in November along with new Articles of Association.

Hobbs will now chair the new Board which is made up of directors Darren Chapple, Henry Herbert and David Newth, who previously served on the Board from January 2012, and new members Giorgio Brugnoli, Nicholas Griffin, Luigi Leo and Mike Loosemore.

They will be joined by four non-executive directors, including Fiona McKelvie, with the other three set to be named shortly.

Commenting on his appointment, Hobbs said: "Boxing is one of the few sports in England that has continually delivered the twin goals of increased grassroots participation and elite medal success and I want to continue to build on these achievements and give more people the opportunity to experience the sport.

"Boxing delivers huge benefits to people and communities across a range of areas and, as the national governing body for the sport, it is our job to drive the sport forward, represent its interests, create opportunities for boxers and support the clubs, coaches, schools and thousands of volunteers that do a fantastic job at the grassroots."

Hobbs will now look to oversee the future development of boxing in England after a turbulent 2013 ©Getty Images



Educated at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, Hobbs spent 10 years in the British Army before entering the world of IT and finance.

Following a spell as head of business development at The Financial News, he founded global proprietary intelligence and analysis firm the Mergermarket Group, which he sold to education publisher Pearson Plc, where he became chief executive of its professional and vocational education division.

He left Pearson in 2011 to join private equity investment firm, Warburg Pincus, as an advisor focusing on the technology and media sector.

"We are very fortunate to have someone of Caspar's calibre joining the Board at such an exciting time for the sport and we look forward to working with him and seeing the sport and organisation benefit from the skills, experience and commitment that he will bring to the role of chairman," said the Board of England Boxing in a statement.

Director of sport at Sport England, Phil Smith, also welcomed the appointment of Hobbs adding: "The organisation has significantly improved its governance in recent months and we are confident that the new Board and chairman will enable the sport to build on its successes of recent years and go from strength-to-strength."

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