Former world middleweight title challenger Robert McCracken has been handed the task of getting Great Britain's amateur boxing hopes back on track after he was confirmed as the sport's new performance director today.

McCracken, who trains WBC super-middleweight champion Carl Froch and three other rising professionals, will be given control of the entire performance programme with a view to achieving multiple medal success in 2012.

He replaces Kevin Hickey, who resigned after just eight months in the job in September, after British boxers disappointingly failed to bring home a medal from the World Championships in Milan.

McCracken said: "It is a privileged position to be given the job of moulding the boxers towards the Olympics. There is some great talent already in the squad and more coming through.

"It is a good chance to work with the best young lads in Great Britain. The most fulfilling thing you can do is bring through a young fighter and help them develop to the best of their potential."

McCracken moved to allay fears over his ability to give the job his full focus, with Froch currently locked into the lucrative, long-term 'Super Six' tournament and with a major fight against Mikkel Kessler looming in March.

McCracken will take Froch to Sheffield to train alongside the nation's best amateurs.

He added: "Carl has been great about it and I think it will be an inspiration for some of the lads to have a world champion working alongside them."

British Amateur Boxing Association officials will hope the appointment of McCracken brings to an end a period of turmoil which began when former performance director Terry Edwards was sacked in the wake of the Beijing Games.

And they also hope McCracken's strong links to the professional code will help as they set about building a London franchise for the pro-style World Series of Boxing, due to start at the end of 2010.

The BABA's executive chairman Derek Mapp said: "At the elite level, it will help to have a more semi-professional approach, rather than the one-size-fits-all style there might have been in the past.

"Rob is here to take the elite programme to the next level. He brings a depth of expertise that knows and understands both amateur boxing and what it takes to produce a world champion."