Five weeks after an impressive medal haul at the Beijing Olympic Games, the direction of Great Britain's amateur boxing programme will be decided at a UK Sport board meeting this morning. What may appear to be a minor structural change could have far-reaching consequences for the sport in the run-up to the London Olympics in 2012.

The outcome is also likely to determine the future of Terry Edwards, the performance director, who led Britain to their best Olympics since 1956. And if Edwards goes, it is expected that the majority of the Olympic squad of eight, including James DeGale, the gold medal-winner, will turn professional. From a position of strength, Britain would be looking to start again four years before the London Games.

Two options are on the table for UK Sport, which funds the sport through lottery money. The first is to put the running of the elite programme into the hands of the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA), an umbrella group made up of representatives of the ABAs from England, Scotland and Wales. The second is for UK Sport itself to run the Britain boxing programme until a satisfactory new body can be set up.

While things have been going well in the ring, most of the fighting has been going on behind the scenes. Since 2006, when money available to Olympic sports increased dramatically after London was awarded the 2012 Games, the programme, which is based in Sheffield, has been under the auspices of the ABA of England (ABA). That flow of money into the sport led to a constant battle for control between the ABA hierarchy and Edwards.

There has been unparalleled success under Edwards. At the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, England won eight medals, including five golds, in the 11 weight divisions, with an additional gold for Scotland. In November last year, in Chicago, England had their best World Championships, winning three medals, with Frankie Gavin becoming Britain's first world champion. Eight boxers qualified for Beijing, three more than for the previous three Olympics combined, with DeGale winning gold and David Price and Tony Jeffries each winning a bronze medal.

But while performances in the ring beat expectations, behind the scenes things were chaotic, with rows and a string of unpaid bills. UK Sport's Mission 2012 reports uncovered the problems; Beijing brought matters to a head. Edwards was criticised when Gavin, the best gold-medal hope, failed to make the weight and flew home, although the team did well despite a tough draw. Yet the day before DeGale, Price and Jeffries boxed in the semi-finals, details of a suspension for Billy Joe Saunders, the welterweight, for appearing in a supposed “lewd and disgusting” video were leaked to a national newspaper, along with a dossier of alleged misdemeanours by Britain boxers.

It was a thinly veiled attempt to undermine Edwards. None of the other allegations involved any member of the Olympic team and one incident dated back more than two years. Price and Jeffries lost their semi-finals, although neither blamed the storm that was surrounding the team. However, the attempt to undermine Edwards backfired. The squad stood behind him, Simon Clegg, Team GB's chef de mission, blasted the ABA and sought a meeting with Richard Caborn, the former Sports Minister and present ABA president.

When DeGale won the middleweight gold, Edwards was singled out for praise. For the offence deemed so serious that it had to be exposed during the Olympics, Saunders was fined £250 and given a warning. The incident exposed the huge divisions that had opened in the sport. At one point, things got so bad that the ABA is alleged to have threatened to withhold boxers' medical cards, which would prevent them from competing.

The fear is that the BABA will just be the ABA in different clothes. Derek Mapp, the former chairman of Sport England, is a director of the ABA and has been appointed chairman of the BABA. A director of the new umbrella group is Paul King, the ABA chief executive.

Having failed in UK Sport's eyes, would it just be giving control back to the same people? There are also doubts about whether Edwards, 65, who may have to reapply for his job, would want to work with the same faces again, people who are widely assumed to have undermined him.

King vehemently denies that he was behind the leaking of the story about Saunders, but it is not a secret that he and Edwards have seldom seen eye to eye. King, though, has overseen a big rise in the amateur code's popularity. Numbers competing have risen considerably and he is responsible for taking the European Championships to Liverpool next month, the biggest tournament, outside the Commonwealth Games, to have been held in Britain since the 1948 Olympics.

“It would be a folly to move forward without the BABA plans,” King said. “People build up this rivalry between me and Terry, but we still talk to each other in a normal way. The medal return from Beijing was good, but with Gavin in the team and with unbiased judging - after Joe Murray lost to a Chinese boxer [Gu Yu] - it could have been magnificent. We have got to raise the bar. We have got some incredible talent coming through. In London, we could blow out of the water what we achieved in Beijing.”

The main players

Terry Edwards (Great Britain performance director) “Sacked” by Audley Harrison in Sydney during the 2000 Olympic Games, he came to prominence with Amir Khan in Athens four years later and led Britain to three medals, including a gold, at the the Beijing Olympics in August.

Paul King (chief executive of the ABA) Credited with bringing amateur boxing into the 21st century, he has overseen a huge rise in the sport's popularity, with the number of active boxers rising from 7,000 to more than 12,000 in England. Played leading role in boosting Britain's standing in boxing.

Derek Mapp (chairman of the BABA and director of the ABA) Resigned as chairman of Sport England after a row with the Government over the legacy of the 2012 Games.

David McElhinney (ABA finance director) Chief executive of Liverpool Direct Ltd. A key ally of King.

James DeGale (Olympic middleweight champion) Says he will turn professional if Edwards leaves. Likely to turn professional anyway.

Frankie Gavin (world amateur lightweight champion) Amateur career seemed over when he flew home before Olympics after failing to make the weight, but he could compete in next month's European Championships at light-welterweight.

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