Celes Boxing gym’s head Shoji Kobayashi, better known as Celes Kobayashi, will become the new president of the East Japan Pro Boxing Association as there were no other candidates for the presidency by the Feb. 17 deadline.

The 48-year-old Kobayashi will replace the current president Susumu Hanagata, 75, head of Hanagata Boxing Gym, who assumed the post in April 2019, at its general meeting on Feb. 25.

Hanagata, 75, did not seek the re-election although his three-year term will expire at the end of the coming March, citing his old age as the chief reason.

Kobayashi, a former World Boxing Association super flyweight champion, said, ‘’I have been serving as a board member for five terms or 15 years. Considering my period as a boxer, I have been indebted to the boxing world for more than 30 years. I want to give it to return the favor in some way together with other members in today’s confusion (caused by COVID-19 and other matters surrounding the Japanese boxing world).’’