Saunders reveals Hickey is still lending a hand to British boxing

WORLD bronze medallist Bradley Saunders has revealed former British Amateur Boxing Association performance director Kevin Hickey is still lending a helping hand to British fighters.

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Hickey stepped down from his role last month, just a week after Great Britain returned from the World Championships in Milan empty-handed.

A veteran of five Olympics, from Munich 1972 to Seoul 1988, Hickey was appointed at the start of the year to guide Great Britain's boxers to London 2012.

His appointment followed the acrimonious departure of Terry Edwards, who guided Great Britain to their most success Olympics in Beijing for 52 years, from his role as head coach.

In a restructuring move, the BABA was set up with chairman Derek Mapp appointing Hickey as performance director, while Edwards did not have his contract renewed.

Hickey's departure, for which he cited personal reasons, threw British amateur boxing into further turmoil, but Saunders, one of only two of the seven British boxers to go to Beijing last year who has not turned professional, revealed he has not completely cut his ties with the British stable.

"It was a shock at first to here that Kevin was stepping down as performance director. He's very good at his job," said Saunders, who was unbeaten in his 16 bouts this season until injury ruled him out of the World Championships.

"Everybody seems to know Kevin Hickey and know how good he is.

"But he's not out of the picture full time. He's going to start coming in and offering his services up which is a good thing in itself."