Lausanne – Artur Beterbiev from Russia and Katie Taylor from Ireland have been named the best elite boxers of 2010 by the International Boxing Association, with Azerbaijan's Shaban Shahpalangov scooping the prize for best youth boxer. The boxers and the best coach and officials will receive their awards at a special ceremony during the forthcoming AIBA Congress in Almaty, Kazakhstan on November 2nd.

The 25-year-old Artur Beterbiev from Magnitogorsk in the Russian Federation is reigning World and European Champion. He eliminated France's Abdelkader Bouhenia by RSC in the first round of this year's 81kg European final in front of the Moscow crowd before the Frenchman had chance to score.

Beterbiev also won the 2008 AIBA World Cup in front of the home crowd in Moscow, beating Abbos Atoev from Uzbekistan, who had beaten him to the world title in the previous year. At the 2009 AIBA World Championships, Beterbiev edged ahead in a close final to defeat another Uzbek opponent, Elshod Rasulov, en route to the light heavyweight world title.

Ireland's Katie Taylor picks up the AIBA best boxer award for the second time in two years. Taylor beat China's Cheng Dong at the 2010 AIBA Women's World Championships in Barbados last month to claim her third consecutive world lightweight title. Her gold medal victory was her 100th victory from 106 bouts since 2001.

Shaban Shahplangov of Azerbaijan picks up the award for best youth boxer after taking the youth world flyweight title on home soil at the AIBA Youth World Championships in Baku in April. This qualified him for the first Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August, where he failed to make the medals table.

In other awards, AIBA recognized the best coach as Chuanliang Zhang of China, the best Technical Delegate as Terry Smith (recently elected Chairman of the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association), the best ITO (International Technical Official) as Mr Adam Kusior from Poland, the best referee and judge as Mr Rakhymzhan Rysbayev from Kazakhstan and the best licensee as Budoland / Top Ten.