Golovkin Set to Be Elected International Boxing Leader, To Steer Sport Towards 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Ex-middleweight world titleholder Gennady Golovkin will be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it prepares for the 2028 Olympic Games in LA.
Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and achieved the most world title defences in the history of the middleweight division, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s autonomous selection committee for the upcoming vote. Consequently, he will take charge of the boxing governing body, which was established as the authority for Olympic-style amateur boxing this year.
This position used to be held by the International Boxing Association, but it was expelled by the IOC in 2023 following a string of judging, corruption and governance scandals.
In his manifesto, the boxing veteran, whose initial term lasts through 2027, vowed to rebuild confidence in the sport and ensure boxing’s future in the Olympic programme, beginning at the Los Angeles 2028.
“During my amateur career, I earned with pride a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, representing not only Kazakhstan but the values of fair play and discipline that define Olympic boxing,” he stated. “As a professional, I became a multiple-time unified world champion, recognized for my honesty, sportsmanship, and dedication to clean competition.
“I am committed to improving oversight, ensuring financial transparency, advancing tech solutions to guarantee fair judging, and expanding opportunities for athletes of all genders in all corners of the globe.”
The International Olympic Committee directly managed the boxing events at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Nonetheless, after the recent Games were overshadowed by disputes about gender eligibility, it said it needed a fresh collaborator by the 2028 Olympics.
In February, it granted recognition to World Boxing, which then hosted the 2025 global tournament in Liverpool. For that event, World Boxing implemented compulsory gender verification, to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes, a move that the IOC is also evaluating for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.