Golovkin Set to Be Chosen as International Boxing President, To Steer Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads toward the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who earned a silver medal in the 2004 Athens Games and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the sole nominee for president approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. Consequently, he will assume leadership of World Boxing, which became the governing body for Olympic-style amateur boxing recently.
That role was previously occupied by the former international boxing body, but it was banished by the International Olympic Committee in 2023 following a series of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the 43-year-old Golovkin, whose initial term runs until 2027, promised to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, starting with the 2028 LA Olympics.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a silver medal at the Olympic Games Athens 2004, symbolizing Kazakhstan but the principles of integrity and hard work that define Olympic boxing,” he wrote. “In my pro career, I won numerous world titles, known for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to fair play.
“I am committed to improving oversight, guaranteeing open finances, developing technology to ensure impartial scoring, and creating more chances for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The IOC directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were marred by rows over gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator in time for the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then ran the 2025 world championships in Liverpool. For the championships, the organization introduced a mandatory sex screening test, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also considering for LA 2028.
