Woodhall pictured while fighting. (Getty Images)

Richie Woodhall, the former WBC super-middleweight Champion, was unveiled as the Amateur Boxing Association of England's new high-performance manager before the ABA Championship Finals in London.

Terry Edwards, the coach who was in silver medallist Amir Khan's corner at last year's Athens Olympics, steps up to succeed Ian Irwin as high-performance director in what the ABA described as their "dream team" to produce winners at major championships.

The appointments were announced alongside the presentation of a £4.27million cheque from Sport England to the ABA to fund the development of amateur boxing over the next four years.

A sizeable chunk of the money will be channelled towards the grass roots of the sport and Roger Draper, chief executive of Sport England, said: "Most of the investment will go to the people on the ground who can deliver the champions of the future.

"We are investing in people - good coaches, good management and the boxers themselves."

Woodhall, a bronze medallist at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 before going on to win the WBC World title 10 years later, said: "I've come full circle now.

"Winning the WBC title - a real world title - was tremendous but before that I boxed in 43 amateur internationals. That was a large part of my life and it was a great grounding to go on and be successful.

"Being given this job is another dream come true for me. Being involved in the national set-up with the squad brings it full circle."

He sees drawing on his experience and advising the country's top amateurs over the best time to turn professional as an important part of his new appointment.

"I don't think we have ever had a former world champion talking to them and advising them of the best time to turn professional."

It may be too late to affect the future of Amir Khan, who is on the brink of cashing in on his Athens success by turning professional, and Woodhall said: "Obviously some of them will go pro but we want to do it at the right time when they have the right experience and then they will go with our blessing."

He revealed plans to provide vocational training, alongside boxing training, for the stars of the future, and added: "If that had been in place for me I might well have stayed amateur for another three or four years."