Newly-elected AIBA President Umar Kremlev is among those to have paid tribute to the Northern Irishman, a former chairman of the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association (WABA).

"He will always be remembered for his great passion and dedication to the improvement and development of boxing," Kremlev said.

"His expertise and knowledge highly contributed to the benefit of AIBA and our beloved sport, and I am sure that the extensive legacy that he left will be cherished by AIBA members."

Smith, one of the leading figures behind the Interim Management Committee set up to oust former AIBA President Ching-Kuo Wu, had initially been removed from the AIBA Executive Committee in 2017 before he was reinstated shortly after.

He was later accused by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of misleading communication within the AIBA membership during the lead-up to the June 2019 decision to suspend the organisation as the Olympic governing body for the sport.

The IOC said Smith had contributed to AIBA's Olympic future being plunged into doubt after he wrote to members denying the existence of a letter sent by the IOC, which had warned of the impact of electing Gafur Rakhimov as President owing to his status in the United States as "one of Uzbekistan's leading criminals".

In October 2013, an independent audit conducted on behalf of Sports Wales claimed the WABA under Smith was "not fit for purpose" because of poor financial record keeping, although they found no evidence of fraudulent activity.

Smith, born in Belfast before relocating to Wales, was involved in boxing for the majority of his life after taking up the sport at the age of 10.

He also served as chairman of the AIBA compliance unit, as a technical delegate for the worldwide body and as honorary chairman of the Refereeing and Judging Commission.

Smith was involved in the organisation of the 2001 World Championships in Belfast.

Michael Hawkins, head coach of the Holy Trinity club in Belfast, described Smith as a "boxing man through and through".