Olympic bronze medalist Vitaly Dunaytsev of Russia announced on Sunday that he's decided to finish his sports career. (photo by Valery Sharufulin)

Dunaytsev, 27-years-old, won bronze in the 64kg division at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He also holds the 2015 world tournament and 2015 Europe championships titles.

There were many who were hoping Dunaytsev was going to turn pro, but he decided to go in another direction.

"I have finished my career. I am head of the Boxing Federation of the Belgorod Region, a member of the regional legislature and head of the regional United Russia Young Guard office. There are a number of other areas of my activity. So, I am not planning to return to sport so far," he told TASS.

Dunaytsev was born in Kostanay, Kazakhstan, but he and his family moved in 2001 to Stary Oskol, Belgorod Oblast, Russia. His father is a retired competitive boxer.

Early on, Dunaytsev was practicing judo, but after two years he switched over to boxing.

Dunaytsev is a very educated man, he's a student of the Faculty of Law at the Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law. Dunyatsev's first notable win was at the 2008 European Junior Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and in the following years he was successful in Youth and Junior National Championships.

Dunaytsev became a two-time Russian National champion (2013–2014) in the junior welterweight division.

He won a gold medal at the 2015 European Championships, when he defeated Pat McCormack of Great Britain in the finals. In October of that year, Dunaytsev became world champion junior welterweight at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championships in Doha, Qatar.

In December of 2015, by the order of the Sports Minister of Russia, Dunaytsev received the honorary title "Merited Master of Sports".

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org